


Turn The Lights Down Low

by Poorlittleklainer



Series: Klaine One Shots [15]
Category: Glee
Genre: BadBoy!Blaine, Cheerio Kurt Hummel, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 09:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18092159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poorlittleklainer/pseuds/Poorlittleklainer
Summary: Written for a prompt over on Wattpad asking for Badboy!Blaine and Cheerio!Kurt. And try as I might, this just turned into a big pile of pure fluff. Hope you enjoy!





	Turn The Lights Down Low

**Author's Note:**

> And btw, oh my god, this is the longest one shot I've ever written, hope this behemoth is good. This title has been taken from the song Lights Down Low by MAX.

"Move it, freshman," Kurt looks up from his locker at the loud slam of a body colliding with the row of lockers. He rolls his eyes when he sees Karofsky and his squad walking down the hallway, glaring at anybody who tries to get in their way. Kurt watches as the trio of football players walk closer, but unlike his sophomore year, they just glare at him instead of slamming him into the lockers as well. Much has changed for Kurt since sophomore year two and a half years ago, and it was all because of the uniform he wore now. 

He joined the Cheerios sophomore year with Mercedes, partly because it gave him more opportunities to shine than the oppressive glee club that seemed to fawn over Rachel. But the longer he wore the uniform, the longer he realized that the jocks were leaving him alone. They continued to give him glares whenever they passed each other in the hallways, but no longer were they shoving him into lockers or throwing slushees at him or tossing him into dumpsters. 

So when Mercedes eventually quit the Cheerios, he stayed on. And he grew closer to Santana and Brittany and Quinn, as well as some of the other girls on the squad, and then some of the other guys too. He grew away from the other kids in glee, especially once Sue started bumping up the intensity, and Kurt has a strong suspicion that it was a ploy to destroy the glee club's chances of winning, seeing as their members were constantly missing rehearsal in order to train with the Cheerios. But the uniform was doing it's job, the jocks were leaving him alone and he was too scared to go back to being known simply as the gay kid in glee club. So when he had to make the choice between going to Sectionals or competing with the Cheerios, Kurt chose the Cheerios, quickly followed by Santana, Brittany, and Quinn. 

Now, two and a half years after that decision, Kurt thinks he made the right one. 

"You'd think with how much Karofsky claims to hate you he'd stop blatantly staring at your ass," Santana states next to him. Kurt rolls his eyes at her comment, used to it and more after  two years on the squad together. 

"I don't know what your obsession with Karofsky is, but he is certainly not staring at my ass. He's not gay, Santana," Kurt states. 

"For someone who's about as straight as a rainbow, you have absolutely no gaydar," she continues, shrugging. Kurt rolls his eyes once more before closing his locker. The two of them walk down the halls to their next class, meeting Brittany halfway there. The two girls immediately lock pinkies, and Kurt sees Santana's usual ice cold bitch glare melt just a little. He wonders how long it will take the two of them to get their heads out of their asses and admit they are more than friends. 

_No gaydar my ass,_ Kurt thinks. The three of them enter their writing composition class, taking the usual seats towards the back. The three of them have sat together all semester, and three seats are usually open. Two of them are, but Kurt's seat in between them is currently occupied. He glares at the person sitting in his seat, his feet popped up on the empty desk in front of him. His leather jacket fit snugly over broad shoulders, and his arms were crossed over his chest. His head was tilted back against the chair like he was sleeping, but Kurt could see his eyes were open, staring straight ahead at the ceiling in boredom. 

Blaine Anderson. 

Anderson was a transfer student coming in a little more than halfway through last year, and according to rumors, he was kicked out of his previous two schools for fighting. The rumors also state that he's been to juvie, but since Kurt no longer associates himself with any of the glee club, he can't go up and talk to Noah Puckerman to confirm. They also state he's gay, but Kurt doesn't believe that rumor. If he believed those rumors, about half the boys in this school would also be gay.

"Hey, Anderson, that seat's been taken since the beginning of the year. Or has all those cigarettes corroded your brain enough that you forgot?" Kurt snaps, causing the boy to look up at him with a smirk. And damn him if Kurt thought those honey-hazel eyes were gorgeous. They also belonged to the biggest asshole on the planet, and no amount of pretty eyes was going to make Kurt like him. 

"Thought I'd twist things up for a change. Besides, you cheerleaders are never here anyways, thank god," Anderson states, his smirk widening when Kurt narrows his eyes at him even more. 

"We're here more often than you, Anderson. Now, get out of my seat," Kurt demands, and he sees out of the corner of his eye Santana crossing her arms over her chest, probably popping a hip out as well. Brittany looks back and forth between Anderson and him, finally settling back on Anderson once he speaks up. 

"Nah, too comfy. Sorry, Hummel, you're gonna have to pick whichever one of your girlfriends is your favorite and sit in their laps," Anderson continues looking at him with that stupid ass smirk, and Kurt seriously wants to smack it off him. 

"C'mon, Kurt, just ignore him. I'm sure he's used to it anyways," Santana states, grabbing his arm and walking towards three other seats, two of which were already occupied. 

"Move," she snaps at the two girls. They look up, probably about to make a retort about how that's not going to happen, but upon seeing the three cheerleaders they quickly gather their things and move towards the front of the room, where the only two empty seats that were together rest. Kurt sits in the middle seat, flanked by Santana on his left and Brittany on his right. He can't help himself, and on the pretense of looking at Brittany, he looks over at Blaine Anderson. 

He's staring straight back at him, and his infuriating smirk widens when their eyes connect. Kurt glares at him before facing forwards again. 

What pisses Kurt off most about it was Anderson's right when he said the cheerleaders were never in that class. Sue's taken up to signing the Cheerios to even more competitions than she normally does, something about needing more gold trophies to melt down and cover her office walls in gold. Kurt's usually never sure if half the things she says she's being serious about, so the only thing he got out of that conversation was the Cheerios would be busier than ever. 

About ten minutes into class, Sue's voice comes over the intercom, demanding her Cheerios be released. Kurt, Santana, and Brittany already have their bags slung over their shoulders and quickly hurry out of the class towards student doors, where Sue's already standing outside the bus with her megaphone in hand. 

"Let's go, anybody who's not on this bus in the next ten minutes will be getting run over by it. Repeatedly," she yells into the megaphone. Nobody says anything about her obvious threat, and Kurt briefly wonders if she would even be able to get away with it if she actually _did_ run over somebody with the bus. 

There were benefits to being friends with the cheer captains, one of which is being able to get the best seats on the bus. He, along with Santana and Brittany, as well as Quinn when she shows up, all pile into the row of four seats in the back, which were empty already. The rest of the Cheerios load onto the bus, and luckily Kurt didn't have to see if Sue really would run over anybody because they all get on on time. Then the bus is on it's way and Sue's barking orders about where to go for the competition and how if they lost they would all be walking home. 

They, of course, kill it. Sue would kill them if they did anything but murder the competition. She even manages to shout only minimal criticism afterwards on the bus ride home. 

The bus drops them back off at McKinley, and after a lecture from Sue on everything they did wrong, she lets them go for the day with demands to be ready for a harder training the next day. They all quickly head back to their cars, and Kurt waves goodbye to Quinn, Santana and Brittany, before tossing his bag in the seat next to him. He starts driving back to his house, but halfway there, his car starts making a noise that immediately causes Kurt to pull over. Luckily he did too, because he starts to see smoke rising from the hood. Kurt quickly pops the hood open, and jumps back at the cloud of hot air released. Once he waves away the smoke, Kurt looks over the engine, hoping that he can fix it quickly and it won't be too expensive on his dad. He swears loudly when he pulls out his phone, about to call his dad to come pick him up with the shop's tow truck, when he remembers two things. One, it's nearly 7:00 pm, which means the shop's probably closed by now. And two: his dad isn't even in Ohio right now, he's in D.C. 

Then, the sound of a motorcycle coming to a stop makes Kurt look up. The bike pulls over in front of Kurt, the engine turning off and the rider looking over at Kurt.

"Need a hand, Hummel?" The guy says, taking his helmet off, and of course it's Blaine Anderson sitting there in his stupid leather jacket and his stupid crooked smirk and his stupid cute face. He runs a hand through his curly hair, a subconscious action that almost looked to Kurt like he was attempting to put them in some sort of order. 

"Not from you, Anderson," Kurt snaps, looking back at his engine and swearing under his breath. He steps back and closes the hood, letting out a noise of frustration. 

"Whoa, that doesn't sound good. Is the princess mobile broken?" Anderson says, and Kurt glares at the boy, who's still sitting on that goddamn motorcycle. Crap, why does Anderson have to be such an asshole but be that attractive?

"I didn't ask for you to stop, you know? My dad's a mechanic, I can call him to drive out," Kurt tells him, even though his dad isn't even in the state. Not like Anderson needs to know that. 

"He's still at his shop at seven in the evening? Hop on, I can drive you home," Anderson gestures to the spot behind him, and Kurt is momentarily speechless. Anderson's offering to drive him home? Kurt's surprised he didn't just stop to poke fun at him and then leave. After all, that's what their relationship has been up until this point. There's a reason the two of them don't ever say each other's first names. Kurt would honestly be shocked if Anderson even knew his first name. 

"I don't need your help, Anderson," Kurt snaps. Anderson shrugs, grabbing his helmet and about to put it back on when he speaks up again. 

"Have fun walking home then," he says. Kurt thinks back to his busted engine, and the empty house he has back home. Carole's working the night shift, which means she's at the hospital now. Finn was over at Puck's, and besides, the two of them have had a strained relationship ever since Kurt quit the glee club, he's reluctant to call Finn to pick him up. 

"Wait," Kurt says, defeated. Anderson grins, turning to Kurt with that stupid ass smirk on his face. Kurt grabs his bag from his car and locks it, figuring it'll be fine on the side of the road until tomorrow when he could have somebody from the shop pick it up in the morning. 

"Figured you'd give in. Hop on," Anderson pats the seat behind him, and Kurt gets onto the bike, immediately realizing how close he is to Anderson. Kurt gives him the directions to his house before Blaine kicks on the engine, and anything else he was going to say is lost in the roar of the bike's engine. Kurt wraps his arms around Anderson's stomach, a blush on his cheeks when he feels the strength of hidden muscles under his palms. 

Kurt's never ridden a motorcycle before. His father wasn't a huge fan of them, and Carole hated them even worse than his dad did. But Kurt found a kind of freedom riding the bike with Blaine. He doesn't know if it would be different with him actually driving the bike, but the ride was kind of... fun. The wind whipped at Kurt's face, his hair flew everywhere, and at the end, Kurt tries to hide his smile from Anderson but he's too late. 

"I knew you'd enjoy that," Anderson states, surprising Kurt in the softness of his voice. Kurt blushes as he unslings his bag from one shoulder so it's hanging off his right. He rolls his eyes for effect though, hoping the dim light given off by the streetlights don't reveal his red cheeks. 

"Thanks for the ride," Kurt says. Anderson smiles at Kurt, who nearly takes a step back in shock. Anderson doesn't smile, he smirks. And Kurt's struck with how despite the leather jacket and motorcycle, it makes him look so much softer and not as guarded as the smirk. 

"Anytime," and then the smirk is back and he puts his helmet back on. Kurt watches as he revs up the engine again, the sound like a cannon in the quiet neighborhood, and he drives off. Kurt waits until Anderson turns the corner before walking to his front door, unlocking it and quickly heading inside the empty house. 

He calls the shop, leaving a message for the morning shift to pick up his car. He throws some music on so the house isn't as eerily quiet. After cooking himself dinner, he heads up to his room to do some of his homework, seeing as most of it was due the next day and he hadn't even started on that history paper yet. He knows if he doesn't turn it in on time, he can always tell Sue about it and she'll get him out of it like she does with all the Cheerios, but he wants to actually do his work. He knows his dad would be severely disappointed in him if he wasn't keeping his grades up on his own merits, despite the fact that he could technically get away with not doing much because the entire staff is terrified of Sue. So he stays up late to finish the paper, finally declaring it done a little after midnight. 

The next morning, he's almost forgotten about his car situation. He assumes that one of the guys will get the message when the shop opens at 7:30, but he still needs a ride to school. Carole is still asleep, and Kurt doesn't want to wake her up because he knows she didn't get home until four in the morning. He didn't hear Finn come home last night, which means he probably just ended up staying over at Puck's. Kurt's about to call Santana or Quinn for a ride when he hears the rumble of a motorcycle. 

_It can't be._ Kurt thinks, poking aside the blinds of the front window. He's completely shocked by the motorcycle that sits on the curb, the curly haired bad boy leaning against it and looking down at his phone, as if he comes and picks Kurt up for school everyday. 

Kurt's not stupid, he's not going to turn down a ride and risk being late to school. So he grabs his bag and his keys, locking the front door on his way out. Anderson looks up from his phone when he hears the door close, and gives Kurt that smirk. 

"What the hell are you doing, Anderson?" Kurt asks, unable to keep the shock out of his voice. Anderson just keeps giving that smirk, crossing his arms over his chest and damn it that just makes his biceps look _toned_. 

"I knew cheerleaders were supposed to be airheads, but you're taking it to a whole new level here Hummel," Anderson states. "I thought it was obvious. I figured you'd need a ride after your car crapped out last night," he continues. 

"Why?" Kurt asks. Anderson shrugs. 

"Despite popular belief, I'm not a complete asshole. Hop on," Anderson gestures towards the bike with a nod of his head, and Kurt quells his response to that as he secures his bag to his body. He gets onto the back of the bike, holding onto Anderson tightly again as he flies out of the neighborhood. It doesn't take them long until they get to school, a little under ten minutes. It normally takes Kurt closer to fifteen and he typically goes five over the speed limit, so that's certainly testimony to Anderson's speed. 

Once Anderson turns the engine off, Kurt gets off his bike. His hair is a complete mess from the wind, but for once he doesn't care. Kurt doesn't know what it is about the motorcycle, but he loves riding that thing. He does, however, self-consciously finger comb his hair into some kind of working order.

"Thanks for the ride, Anderson," Kurt calls over his shoulder as he walks into school. He can feel the gaze of several different people on him, and he's not surprised. Blaine Anderson is a hot topic throughout this school, according to the Cheerios on the squad. There has been multiple times Kurt's overheard the girls going on about Anderson. He doesn't know what it is about the bad boy that gets the girls gossiping like crazy, but whatever it is, Anderson has it. 

He's halfway through second period when his phone starts vibrating. Kurt looks down to see it's his dad's shop, and Kurt watches the phone buzz until the call ends. A few seconds later, a new voicemail turns up on the screen. He had to wait until his lunch period to answer them back. So when his fourth period ends, he heads outside the school so he doesn't have to deal with trying to hear the call over the yelling of the cafeteria. 

"Kurt?" Mike, the guy who runs the store whenever his dad is in DC, answers. 

"Hey, Mike. It's Kurt," Kurt responds. 

"Kurt, buddy! You're not ditching class to return my call, are you?" Mike asks. 

"No, it's my lunch period. Did you guys pick up my car?" He asks. He hears Mike walking through what has to be the garage, if the noises are any indication. 

"Yeah, I'm by her now. You're not going to like me. It looks like your engine's blown," Kurt lets out a quiet _fuck_  when Mike tells him that. 

"That's what I was worried about. Can you guys fix it?" He asks. 

"It'll be about a week or so until we get the parts in and repair the engine. Don't worry about the cost or anything. We called your dad and he said he'll take care of it," Mike says. Kurt nods, sighing into the phone at the prospect of having to deal with his car in the shop for a week. 

"Can you swing by the garage after school? There's some paperwork we gotta get done that you'll have to sign for since your dad's not here," Mike continues. 

"Yeah, I'll find a ride over. Thanks, Mike," Kurt says. Mike repeats the farewell and Kurt hangs up, sighing again as he shoves his phone back in his bag. 

"Well that looked like an amazing conversation," Kurt looks up in surprise when he sees Anderson leaning against the side of the building, an unlit cigarette in hand. Kurt rolls his eyes when he sees it. 

"I'm pretty sure it's illegal to smoke on school grounds," Kurt states. Anderson laughs, and Kurt raises an eyebrow at him. 

"It's a good thing I don't smoke then. Don't tell anybody, but I hate the taste of these things. Besides, they give you cancer," Anderson mock-whispers, and Kurt looks at him confused. 

"Then why do you have them?" He asks. Anderson shrugs. 

"Gotta keep up the image somehow," he twirls the cigarette between his fingers, before he finally pulls out a full pack and puts it back. 

"So, that phone call sounded like fun," Anderson states. 

"Eavesdropping?" Kurt asks. Anderson chuckles and crosses his arms over his chest as he leans against the building. 

"You talk loud. Was that about your car?" Anderson asks. 

"Yeah. I'll be carless for about a week or so," Kurt sighs. Anderson walks towards him in the direction of the doors, but stops in front of Kurt. 

"I'm sorry about that. If you need a ride, I can pick you up and drop you off from school," Anderson offers. Kurt looks at him in confusion. Why would he offer to give him a ride? It's not like they're friends. 

"Why?" Kurt asks, unable to keep the shock from his voice. Anderson smiles, shrugging his shoulders as he does so. 

"Like I said earlier, contrary to popular belief, I'm not a total asshole," Anderson states, and Kurt's momentarily speechless as he watches Anderson walk back inside. Kurt waits a couple moments, standing there watching the door that Anderson just walked through. What is going on? Why is Anderson being kind all of a sudden? Although, Kurt has to admit, he's never actually attempted to have a conversation with him other than random verbal sparing in the hallways or in the classroom. 

Later that day during his free period, Santana and Quinn both stride up to the table he's working at. Kurt looks up from his physics notes as they stop in front of the table, both mirroring the other as they cross their arms over their chests, their ponytails still swinging. 

"Okay, what the hell is going on with you and Blaine Anderson?" Quinn asks. Kurt rolls his eyes as he looks back at his notes. 

"Nothing," he states, trying to keep it short so he doesn't have to elaborate on it. Because _he_ doesn't even know what's going on. Besides, it's not like they're friends or anything, right? Anderson just suddenly decided to give him a ride, Kurt didn't ask or anything. Which made this whole situation even weirder, Kurt didn't even ask and Anderson just, offered. 

"So why did he drop you off before school? People are saying you guys spent all night together, having loads of gay sex," Santana states. Kurt rolls his eyes again at her, not even glancing up from his notes. 

"My car broke down last night, Anderson saw me on the side of the road and took me home. He gave me a ride because my car's in the shop for the next week," he explains. He finally looks up to see both girls eyebrows raised. Okay, he'll admit, that sounds stupid even though it's the truth. He can imagine what the rumors are saying, if there's one thing this school loves more than watching their cheerleaders, it's gossiping about them. And since Anderson's arrival last year, he's been subject to many rumors himself. 

"What? It's the truth," Kurt says at their disbelieving look. 

"Kurt, why would Blaine give you a ride? You guys aren't, like, together, right?" Quinn asks. Kurt shakes his head adamantly at her question. 

"No, we aren't together. Besides, Anderson being gay is only one of the numerous rumors getting tossed around. I swear, this school thrives on it's rumor mill. I don't know why he gave me a ride, but I'm not going to turn it down. Like I said, my car's in the shop for the next week," Kurt tells them. They both don't look fully convinced, but neither one says anything else. They sit down at the table and pull out their own notes, and the three of them start studying for the quiz next period together. 

When the bell rings, Kurt realizes the flaw in this plan. He has cheer practice, and Anderson no doubt is long gone by the time he's done. Kurt obviously doesn't have Anderson's phone number, so he can't text him for a ride. At least Santana or Quinn will be out from the showers soon, hopefully one of them can give him a ride back to the shop. 

"Hummel! You ready?" Kurt looks up when he hears Anderson yell. He's leaning against his bike again, in the same use as this morning, with his helmet resting on the seat of the bike. 

"You're here?" Kurt asks, surprised. 

"I told you I'd give you a ride, didn't I?" Anderson smirks. 

"I forgot to tell you about practice. I figured you wouldn't stick around for another two hours," Kurt shrugs. Anderson rolls his eyes as he gets onto his bike. 

"I know you're busy doing flips and shit after school, Hummel. I hung out at the library down the street doing homework," he states. Kurt looks at him in surprise again. 

"You do homework?" Kurt asks, immediately wanting to take it back as Anderson bursts out laughing. 

"Of course I do, Hummel. I didn't realize you listen to the rumors. I have a 3.9 GPA," Anderson laughs. 

"How? You're never in class," Kurt asks. Anderson continues laughing, while Kurt stares at him in shock. He has a better GPA than Kurt does. 

"Um, Hummel, we have one class together. And it's not like you and your fellow twirlers are there all the time either," Anderson states. Kurt's retort dies in his throat when he hears Anderson's statement. He can't believe he fell for the rumor mill again. Fuck, he hates it when people judge him off of one glance, and here he is doing the same thing to another person. 

"I'm sorry," Kurt says after a moment. Anderson doesn't say anything, but eventually he reaches back and pats the seat behind him. 

"Get on," he says. Kurt hops on quickly, but before Anderson can kickstart the engine, he gets his attention. 

"Can you bring me to my dad's shop real quick? I have to sign some forms for my car. It's on the way," Kurt asks. 

"Yeah, no problem. Just squeeze my right side when we need to turn right, and my left if we need to turn left, got it?" Anderson asks. 

"Okay, it's Hummel's Tire and Lube," Kurt tells him. Anderson nods, and then he's putting on the motorcycle helmet and the roar of the engine drowns out all other attempts of conversation. Kurt quickly wraps his arms around Anderson's waist as Anderson pulls out of his parking spot. Kurt glances to his right just in time to see Santana and Quinn exiting the school, and Kurt can't tell what their face looks like, but he can't imagine they completely believe his earlier statements about Anderson. 

Luckily, the drive to the shop is quick, and Blaine pulls into an empty spot near the garage. Kurt ignores the front doors and heads for the side entrance reserved for employees. The garage inside is full of noise, like it always is. And in the middle leaning over a white Toyota with the hood propped up is Mike. 

"Mike! Hey!" Kurt yells over the noise of someone inflating some tires. Mike turns around and grins when he sees Kurt. He watches as Mike wipes his hands off on a rag and quickly lets himself be pulled into a hug. Mike's been his dad's secondary manager since Kurt was little, Kurt found himself here a lot when his mom died. Mike was usually there when his dad was busy, so the two of them got pretty close. Between Mike and his dad, he learned how to fix a car whether he wanted to or not. 

"Kurt, hey kid. How's it going?" Mike asks. 

"Good, well, besides the car crapping out on me. How is she?" Kurt asks, looking over at the side of the garage where he sees his navigator. 

"Well, her engine is busted. Your firing pins are damaged, and that's caused some pretty good damage inside. We're a little behind on our shipment, so we'll have to wait to get some new pins in by Friday. Is this guy your ride?" Mike looks up at Anderson standing next to Kurt. Anderson stops looking around the shop and over at Kurt and Mike when Mike says his name. 

"Yeah, I've been his chauffeur. Blaine Anderson," Anderson holds out his hand and shake's Mike's. 

"Mike Reynolds. Kurt, if you want to come into the office you can sign those forms and then head out," Mike leads the way into the back, with Kurt and Anderson following close behind. Luckily, Kurt just has to sign a couple quick forms before he can get out, especially seeing as he's sure Anderson wants to get to his own house anyways. 

Anderson drops him off outside his house, and with a quick wave and a "see you tomorrow, Hummel," he's speeding off down the street again. 

Kurt sees Finn's truck parked outside, meaning Finn is home, and probably Carole as well. He doesn't remember if she was supposed to be off from the hospital today or not, and he gets his answer when he walks inside to dinner cooking. 

"Kurt! There you are. You're father told me your car broke down?" Carole asks as he enters the kitchen. 

"Yeah, my engine is damaged. I'll get it back by Friday afternoon hopefully," he tells her. He quickly gives her a hug before grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. 

"Well, if you need someone to drive you to school so you aren't walking, I can drop you off. Or I'm sure Finn won't mind giving you a ride either," she states. Kurt keeps himself from glancing out into the living room at that statement. He's sure Finn wouldn't decline giving Kurt a ride, but he's pretty sure he wouldn't exactly offer. Finn's harbored a grudge against Kurt and the rest of the cheerleaders for ditching glee club, Kurt heard they just barely got enough members to compete in the sectionals they ditched. He hears about the school's bullying of the glee club, sees some of his former friends entering bathrooms dripping wet from slushees, but Kurt does nothing about it. Just because he's a cheerleader now, doesn't mean he has any kind of power over the population. Besides, he's not going to risk anything that disrupts the careful balance of safety Kurt has by wearing the uniform. 

"Thank you, Carole. But I got a ride," he tells her. Carole nods, and they spent time briefly catching up on their days before Carole announces dinner's ready. Kurt watches as Finn rushes in to the kitchen, and their eyes connect between both of them grabbing plates. All of a sudden, the atmosphere gets tenser like it always does whenever Kurt and Finn are in the same room. When his dad started dating Carole, Kurt had just joined the cheer squad, but he was still in glee at the time. It wasn't until after their parents started getting serious about each other that things got tense between them when Kurt chose the Cheerios over the New Directions. It put a bit of strain between Carole and Burt, seeing at their sons were fighting. But they got married, and ever since then they've been living with each other. Kurt thinks that Carole and his dad probably thought Finn would get over his grudge against Kurt when their parents got married, but it's been about a year since they got married, and Finn still refuses to interact with Kurt any more than necessary. 

"This is lovely, Carole," Kurt states over the awkward silence. The only sound is the clinking of silverware against plates, and Kurt momentarily wonders how long Finn's going to pissed at him. But there's nothing he's going to do to get Finn to talk to him, if Finn's done with any kind of friendship, it's not on him to do anything about it. 

Kurt quickly finishes dinner and heads up to his room, shutting the door and plugging his music in while he does homework. The next day, he gets another ride from Anderson. 

It goes like that for a week. Anderson picks him up before school at his house, and the two of them ride to McKinley. They sometimes talk to each other during lunch, or their writing comp class. He doesn't exactly know if they are friends, he's pretty sure friends at least call each other by their first names, but Anderson is much better company than he's ever expected. And he doesn't mind waiting an extra two hours for Kurt to finish up cheer practice. So, when Friday comes around and he gets a call that his car is ready, he'll admit he's a little sorry to see the motorcycle rides with Anderson go away. 

"Thank you again for giving me a ride, Anderson," Kurt states as Anderson drops him off in front of the garage. Anderson sits on his bike, looking at Kurt with his signature smirk. 

"You'll miss the bike," he says. Kurt laughs, and seconds later Anderson joins. 

"You know, I think I will," he says honestly. Before Anderson can restart the engine, Kurt digs in his bag for the cash Carole left for him. He grabs it and hands it to him. 

"Here, this is gas money. For driving me around," Kurt states. Anderson looks at the cash in his hands before looking back up at Kurt. The smirk doesn't go away, but it seems like less of an aggressive front and more real and open. 

"How about instead of paying me gas money, you pay for dinner?" Anderson asks. Kurt raises an eyebrow at him in confusion, before realization sets in. 

"Oh! Like, a date?" Kurt asks, feeling his cheeks blush. Anderson nods, and Kurt continues to look dumbly at him. 

"I didn't know you were gay," Kurt says. Anderson laughs, and Kurt's blush deepens at his look. 

"You're the one who believed the rumor mill. I'm pretty sure Katie Richmond started that one after I told her no way in hell would I ever sleep with her," Anderson laughs. 

"Well, who was the one who berated me for believing the rumor mill earlier this week?" Kurt asks. Anderson continues laughing along, and then looks back at Kurt with sincerity. 

"Well in this case, that particular rumor turns out to be true. So, am I accepting the gas money and we go our separate ways? Or are you buying dinner?" Anderson asks. Kurt grins as he looks at Anderson. 

"Dinner it is," he says. Anderson smirks as he leans back on the bike. 

"I'll pick you up at seven then. On the bike," Anderson grins as he puts the helmet on and revs the bike's engine before tearing out of the parking lot. Kurt grins as he walks into the garage to get his car. He has a quick conversation with Mike before he grabs his keys and drives back home. Carole is again working the night shift, like she normally does over weekends. Finn is at someone's house, probably one of the glee kids, and of course his dad is still in DC, so he doesn't have to worry about informing anybody about his upcoming date. With Blaine Anderson. 

Kurt looks at his closet, trying to figure out what he should wear. What does one wear to a date with McKinley's resident rebel? Certainly not his cheerleader's uniform, he loves the protection it affords him, but the continued polyester uniform makes his internal diva cringe every time he puts it on. So Kurt lets himself go a little wild picking out outfits to wear, finally settling on one that he loves. 

Seven rolls around pretty quickly, and Kurt heads outside when he hears the roar of the motorcycle rolling up outside. He grins as he sees Anderson taking off his helmet, watches as he brings a hand up and brushes back some loose curls. 

"Damn, Hummel. You clean up nice," Anderson says as he walks up. Kurt laughs as he stops in front of the bike. 

"You didn't think I lived in that cheerleader's uniform, did you?" Kurt asks. Anderson laughs, and Kurt realizes something quickly. 

"Wait, if we're going on a date, does this mean I have to start calling you by your first name?" Kurt asks. Anderson laughs again, and Kurt figures that he might just start using his first name, but it would be hard to give up Anderson. There was just something about calling him Anderson that made Kurt smile.

"You can do whatever you want, Hummel," he says. Kurt grins, and gets onto the bike behind him. 

"So, where are we going?" Kurt asks. Blaine turns around and smirks.

"That's a surprise. You just sit back and enjoy the ride," he states before putting his helmet on. Kurt listens to the engine rev up again, and quickly puts his arms around Blaine before he shoots off down the road. Kurt doesn't know where Blaine's taking him as he speeds down back roads, the Lima countryside passing in a blur as he drives into seemingly nothingness. The eventually pull off the road and drive towards an old barn. Blaine pulls up to a stop outside the barn doors, and Kurt looks at the place curiously. The doors were closed, but Kurt saw a campfire pit surrounded by a couple chairs, and resting on the ground was a pile of logs and sticks. 

"Where are we?" Kurt asks. Blaine grins as he sets his helmet on the bike's seat. He grabs Kurt's hand and pulls him towards the door, letting go of his hand in order to open the barn doors. He doesn't say anything as he opens the door, and Kurt looks around impressed. Several couches were set up, along with a tv and what looks like a PlayStation. In the middle was a table, where Blaine had set up plates and silverware, as well as a box of pizza. 

"This is the place I go to get away from everything," Blaine says. Kurt follows as Blaine heads towards the table and opens the pizza box, where it's surprisingly still hot. 

"I thought I was buying dinner?" Kurt grins. Blaine laughs as he puts a slice on a paper plate. "Breaking out the fancy china I see," Kurt says. Blaine's laugh continues as Kurt grins. 

"Okay, smart ass. Just for that, you can buy dinner next date," Blaine laughs. Kurt laughs along as Blaine points to the small tv and a stack of movies. 

"Go pick out a movie. Do you want a water bottle?" Blaine asks. Kurt says yes as he looks through the stack resting on the ground next to the tv. Kurt is honestly surprised at the amount of musicals Blaine owns.

"You find one yet?" Blaine asks from behind him. Kurt glances over his shoulder and holds up several of the musicals in his hand. 

"I really judged a book by it's cover with you, didn't I?" Kurt asks. Blaine laughs, and Kurt glances over the musicals again. Seriously, he thinks Blaine might have more than he does. 

"What can I say, I like to keep you guessing, Hummel," Blaine continues. Kurt finally picks _Chicago_ , which from the wear on the box looks like Blaine watches it a lot. He holds up his choice, his smile widening when he watches the excitement in Blaine's eyes as he looks at Kurt's choice. Blaine quickly gets up and plugs the movie in, and so Kurt takes his spot on the small couch and grabs his plate. 

Despite the movie playing in the background, they don't really watch it that much. Instead, they talk. They discuss the things beyond the leather jacket and the cheerleading uniform, things Kurt didn't ever think someone besides Santana, Quinn, and Brittany would ever really want to know. He talks about being a part of the glee club, but then deciding to be a cheerleader. He doesn't really explain the whole story, doesn't tell Blaine that he still wears the uniform for the protection it gives him, but Blaine knows about needing protection too it turns out. Underneath the leather jacket and motorcycle, Blaine loves musicals and show tunes, loves acting and has plans to get out of Ohio and go to New York. That prompts discussions about both their dreams of New York, the colleges they both applied to, what they look forwards to in the city. When the movie's credits start rolling, they laugh because they spent the entire time talking and eating. Blaine offers to replay it, maybe put in another if he wants, but Kurt remembers the campfire outside and despite the chill in the air, he thinks if they bring the blankets and light the fire, it won't be too cold. 

So they move outside, and Blaine quickly lights the fire pit, and they sit in chairs and share a thick blanket. Kurt glances up to see they are far enough out of the lights of Lima that they can see the stars. 

"What you thinking about over there?" Blaine nudges his shoulder, and Kurt looks down from the stars to look over at Blaine. 

"I'm glad my car broke down last week," he says, and chuckles as Blaine laughs along. He stares at Blaine for several silent moments, watching the light from the fire dancing in his eyes, highlighting the gold them. The shadows move along his face, but Blaine breaks the spell by looking away, looking back towards the fire. 

"I should probably get you back to your house. It's getting late," Blaine states. 

"Blaine," Kurt whispers, feels the swoop in his stomach when he looks over at him with widened eyes. It's the first time Kurt's said Blaine's first name out loud, and he knows it. Anderson has it's place, when he's teasing the boy next to him, but here under the stars and in front of the fire, he's not the leather wearing boy the students perceive him as. He's just Blaine.

"Kurt," Blaine whispers in response, and Kurt understands why Blaine reacted that way to his first name. Kurt likes the sound of his name falling from Blaine's lips.

"Kiss me," he asks, seeing no more perfect moment than here under the light of the moonlight with the fire dancing in Blaine's eyes. Blaine grins, and gently grabs Kurt's chin as he leans over and complies. When they part, Kurt smiles as he watches Blaine lean back. 

"Now you can take me home," he whispers. Blaine laughs, and Kurt thinks he can see a slight blush on Blaine's cheeks. Just the thought that their kiss might have made Blaine blush causes his own cheeks to heat up, but it doesn't really matter because Blaine leans in once again, their lips connecting lightly before he stands up. Kurt quickly follows, the warmth of Blaine's body leaving the comfort of their blanket cocoon, and Blaine dowses the fire before grabbing his keys. 

"Hop on," Blaine says. Kurt grins and slides into the place behind Blaine, a spot that's quickly becoming familiar. He watches Blaine rev the engine, watches as he puts his helmet on and speeds off down the dirt road. They quickly reach the paved road that brought them here, and while Blaine speeds down the darkened road, he grins. The wind is cold as hell, biting his skin and his nose and ears are absolutely freezing, but he never thought he'd ever find the feeling of pure freedom on a motorcycle. But here, holding onto the boy Kurt finds himself wanting to get to know so much more, he feels light as air. Like the wind that's whipping his face will just pull him right off the bike and send him flying through the sky. 

Eventually, though, the ride comes to an end, like always. Blaine pulls up outside Kurt's darkened house, and leans the bike on it's stand while he walks Kurt to the door. He smiles as Blaine grabs Kurt's hand in his, even though they're just walking up the driveway and to the front door. 

"Thank you for an amazing time, Blaine," Kurt says. Blaine smiles widely and quickly reaches into his jacket, pulling out his phone. 

"Here, put your number in?" He asks. Kurt smiles, quickly plugging in his information before handing Blaine his phone back. Blaine pulls him into another kiss, and when they part again, Kurt grins. 

"I'll see you later," he says. Blaine smiles, takes a step back while Kurt digs out his own house keys. He unlocks the door and turns around before entering, waving his fingers at the boy standing on the porch. 

"See you later, Anderson," Kurt states. Blaine grins and Kurt steps inside, closing the door behind him as he leans against the door. A minute later, he hears the roar of the bike outside coming back to life and hears as it speeds away. He can't stop smiling as he walks to his bedroom, he doesn't stop when he takes a shower and later hops into bed. He thinks back to the night, learning about the boy Kurt thought he knew all about. He hates how easy it is to fall into stereotypes sometimes, he fell right into that trap the minute Blaine showed up  with his motorcycle and leather jacket, refusing to see more than those two things. He wasn't lying, Kurt thinks, when he said earlier how glad he was his car broke down. It forced him to see who Blaine was under the jacket, and Kurt really likes the boy under the leather. He hopes Blaine likes the boy he is under his uniform too. 

They don't meet up again during the weekend, Kurt's busy helping out at the garage while his dad is in D.C, and he'd feel bad about pleading out when he promised his dad he'd be there. So, in between breaks working on the cars and while he sits at the front desk, Kurt and Blaine text each other. 

And when Monday morning comes around, Kurt's not really shocked when he hears the motorcycle pulling up. He grins as he sets his car keys back on their hook and walks out, yelling a goodbye to Carole as he leaves. Blaine sits on his bike, his helmet on his lap as he grins at Kurt. 

"You know I still don't need a ride, right?" Kurt states as he stops in front of him. Blaine shrugs. 

"I know you can't resist the bike. Figured I'd give you want you want, Hummel," Blaine says. Kurt laughs as he climbs onto the back of the bike, his arms wrapping around Blaine's waist. 

"Thanks, Anderson," he leans forwards and kisses the back of Blaine's neck, grinning as Blaine turns around and smiles. He leans back and Kurt leans forwards as he kisses Blaine properly. They part quickly, with Blaine smiling. 

"Let's go, Anderson. Some of us have class to get to," Kurt grins. Blaine chuckles as he turns forward, putting the helmet on over his head and Kurt wraps his arms tighter as Blaine tears out onto the street. Kurt smiles as the wind hits his face hard enough to make his eyes water. Blaine quickly pulls into McKinley's parking lot, and once he shuts the engine off Kurt gets off the bike. 

"Thanks for the ride, Anderson," Kurt says, grinning as he starts walking inside. He doesn't get far before Blaine grabs his hand, and Kurt jumps as he looks around, thankful nobody was looking. 

"Hey, are you okay?" Blaine asks, and Kurt realizes they were probably on two different wavelengths about how open they would be at school. Blaine obviously had no problem holding his hand in the halls, but Kurt can't help but think what the jocks of the school would say, what they would do. He's finally gotten into an uneasy truce, where he might get dirty looks but he doesn't get shoved into lockers anymore, he doesn't get slushied, he doesn't get called names, to his face at least. But, he knows that tentative peace would most likely be broken by the two of them walking through the halls holding hands. 

"Yeah," Kurt states quickly, but he feels Blaine reaching for his hand again, and sighs, knowing they need to talk about it. 

"Blaine, don't," he says softly. He looks over at Blaine to see a flash of hurt in his eyes, and he doesn't know why Blaine would be hurt. 

"What do you mean?" Blaine asks. Kurt sighs, grabs his wrist and pulls him to the side of the nearby bleachers, after checking underneath them for anybody else. 

"Do you regret going out with me," Blaine asks as he sees Kurt glancing around for other people. 

"No!" Kurt quickly states, sighing as he grabs Blaine's hand and holding it with both of his. "I promise, that's not it," he continues. 

"I thought you were out, do you just not want to be out with me? Is that it?" Blaine quickly starts going from hurt to anger, and Kurt grabs his hand tighter with his own before Blaine can walk away. 

"That's not it either," Kurt says. Blaine sighs. "It's just," Kurt sighs, wishing he didn't have to explain himself because he wanted to wait until later to talk about any kind of deep things. They've only gone on one date, isn't the hard stuff not supposed to happen until at least the third date? 

"I wasn't always a cheerleader, Blaine. And before I put on this uniform, I was bullied mercilessly. Names, throwing me into dumpsters, tossing me against the lockers, it wasn't fun. And once I put on this uniform and quit the glee club, it got better. They don't throw me into the lockers or the dumpsters anymore. And believe me, it's nothing against you, Blaine, you have to trust me that it's totally not you," Kurt trails off, trying to get him to understand that he's scared of things going back to how they were before the uniform because Kurt wasn't only gay, but now he was acting on it. 

"Your uniform is the same as my jacket, Kurt," Blaine says, laying his other hand on top of Kurt's. "Believe me, I understand wanting protection from bullies. I left my first school after three guys beat me up at a Sadie Hawkins dance. I was fourteen, and they put me in the hospital. When I got better, I learned how to fight, kicked the crap out of the next guy who tried to tell me what he thought of me being gay. Unfortunately, that guy turned out to be the headmaster's son, so I got expelled and came here. But the leather and the bike help keep people away, it's my protection too," Blaine says. 

"I'm so sorry, Blaine," Kurt states. Blaine shrugs. 

"It's fine, it's in the past. But, I will say this," Blaine looks determined as he stares at Kurt. "Fuck them. We won't be here for much longer, both of us are going to New York for college. And I don't know about you, but I for one am pretty tired of being scared of those guys who beat me up," Blaine says. Kurt sighs, looking back at the school where more people are walking in the doors. Kurt glances back at Blaine, who's looking at him with the same determination as before. 

"Besides, if anyone tries to give you shit, it's in my job description to beat their asses," Blaine continues. Kurt laughs. 

"And just what job is that, Anderson?" He grins. Blaine smiles, shrugs his shoulders and holds his hand out for Kurt to take. 

"Your boyfriend," Blaine states. Kurt grins as he grabs Blaine's hand in his, lacing their fingers together effortlessly in a way that really should be awkward and new but for some reason, it isn't. It's natural to want to hold onto Blaine in some way, natural already even though they've literally only started talking without cutting and sarcastic one-liners two weeks ago. 

"Who would have thought, bad boy Blaine Anderson's the one who throws out the b word first," Kurt grins teasingly, and Blaine laughs but gives him a wide smile that makes Kurt's heart flutter. 

"Unless that wasn't you I was texting last night, pretty sure you were the one who said it first," Blaine says. They start walking towards the doors of the school, and as they get closer Kurt is all too aware of the stares being thrown their way, the groups that quickly break off into hushed conversations as they get closer. 

"Well, I certainly hope I was the only one you were texting last night, Anderson," Kurt teases as Blaine grabs the door and holds it open for him. They let go of each other's hands for only a second, and quickly grab onto each other again. Kurt can't help himself from looking around now that he's actually inside, he sees the stares and conversations intensify, but before he can get too scared about what might happen, Blaine's squeezing his hand tighter and Kurt remembers his words earlier. 

As usual, Santana, Quinn, and Brittany are waiting by his locker. As Kurt and Blaine walk up together, he sees all three of them smirk knowingly. 

"So it's true," Santana says as they approach. 

"What's true?" Kurt asks, even though he knows what she's about to say. She smirks wider, gesturing to their hands. 

"You and Anderson got your shit together. Finally, I thought I was going to suffocate from all of the sexual tension between you two last week," she continues. Blaine grins and lets go of Kurt's hand, causing Kurt to look over at him. 

"I'll see you later," he says, and he even tilts his head up and gently pecks Kurt's cheek. Kurt feels his cheeks getting warmer as he watches Blaine walk away, finally looking back at the girls when Blaine turns the corner and disappears down another hallway. 

"Shut up," he says to their raised eyebrows and knowing looks. 

"Oh no, you don't get to tell us to shut up. You and Blaine Anderson?" Quinn lightly shoves his shoulder as Kurt quickly opens his locker, shoving books and notebooks into his bag. 

"I guess so," Kurt shrugs, refusing to meet their gazes. 

"Blaine Anderson. The guy you swore was nothing more complex than faux leather and a few biting remarks in the hallways?" Quinn continues. Kurt rolls his eyes. 

"What can I say? I fell into the trap of listening to the gossip train in this place," he closes his locker and finally turns to look at the three girls in front of him. 

"Come on, we should get to class," he says, and the girls agree. They all start walking towards class. They turn the corner, and Kurt's stomach drops when he sees Karofsky and a group of football players strolling down. Kurt can't shake the feeling, especially when he sees Karofsky glaring at him. The glare's not anything new, but it makes him think of how he'd look at him before tossing him into a locker sophomore year. Kurt shakes it off as the two groups pass each other, but he can't stop himself from smoothing his cheerleading shirt unnecessarily. 

"Hey, if he makes a move because you have a boyfriend now, you know Sue will be on his ass, not to mention your actual boyfriend. Is the rumor he went to juvie with Puckerman true?" Quinn says softly. Kurt nods his head in response to her first statement, even though he doesn't want Blaine to fight his battles for him if Karofsky actually does do anything to him. He is perfectly capable of standing up for himself, even if he still hides behind the cheerleading uniform sometimes. 

"No, at least, as far as I know," Kurt replies, and Quinn nods. He sees her look over her shoulder, probably at the retreating football group, but Kurt keeps his eyes firmly trained ahead of him. He says goodbye to the girls as he gets to his classroom, his AP Calculus class the only one he doesn't have with at least one of them. 

The day passes slow. For whatever reason, he can't get that glare from Karofsky out of his head all day. He's sick and tired of Karofsky clearly judging him for something that doesn't even affect him in the slightest, it's not like he's bothering him. What the hell is his problem? 

He's walking to writing comp, the last class of the day and also the only class he actually has with Blaine when it happens. For the first time since sophomore year and putting on the cheerleading uniform, he feels a large shoulder bump itself harshly into his own, causing him to fall into the lockers painfully. 

_Fuck,_ he thinks. _I forgot how much that hurts._ Kurt looks over at Karofsky, who's shrugging his shoulders with a smirk on his face before walking into the locker rooms. Kurt feels nothing but anger as he picks himself up off the locker and charges into the locker room after him. 

"What the hell is your problem?" Kurt yells loudly. The locker room is empty, something that two years ago would have terrified Kurt. But maybe the protection of the uniform gave him some semblance of confidence because instead of fear all Kurt feels is pissed off. 

"You mean besides you shoving your faggy lifestyle in my face?" Karofsky snaps back. Kurt glares at him, clenching his fists tightly. 

"We just held hands! It's not like we were having sex against the lockers. Besides, I know you've seen worse in this school because _I've_ seen worse. Hell, half your teammates practically fuck in the hallways with the rest of the squad. I want to know what the hell is your problem with me? For two years, hell, all of high school you've hated me and I want to know why," Kurt shouts. Karofsky glares as Kurt gets up in his face, letting out all his anger built up over the last two years. 

"You fucking know why, Hummel. Now get out of my face before I make you," he spits. Kurt doesn't back down. The Kurt Hummel before the uniform would have. The Kurt Hummel of two years ago wouldn't have even followed Karofsky into the locker room. But the Kurt Hummel of the uniform and the boyfriend isn't afraid, and maybe part of that was because of Blaine's wise words of _"fuck them,"_ but he likes to think he can be brave without the uniform protecting him. 

"Fuck you, Karofsky. Just because I'm gay doesn't give you an excuse to hate me. Maybe if you spent more time looking at yourself you'd realize that you don't hate me you hate yourself because you know what a sad, sorry excuse of a man you are. You'd know it's only cowards who try to make other people feel bad about themselves, and go ahead," Kurt says, seeing the anger in Karofsky's face getting worse and worse. "Go ahead and punch me, you know you want to. Prove me right, punch me and then we'll see where you end up, because you are the biggest coward of them all and--" he doesn't get a change to finish his tirade before Karofsky lays his hands on Kurt's face, and not in the way he expected. He violently crashes his lips on Kurt's, pressing harder when Kurt tries to pull away, and when he's about to just bite him, anything to get away from the lips on his own, Karofsky pulls away. 

Kurt pushes hard on his chest, stepping back when that does absolutely nothing to the football player. He holds a hand to his beating chest, wiping the back of his other over his mouth because Karofsky just  _kissed_ him. 

"What the hell?" Kurt wants to yell, he meant to yell, but it comes out more like a breath instead of actually saying it. Karofsky doesn't look much better, if anything, he just looks angrier. Kurt watches as he punches a locker, a little surprised he didn't punch Kurt to be honest. He watches as Karofsky throws the door open with such force he's shocked the door didn't fly off it's hinges. 

His legs start wobbling, and his head feels like it's pounding. He doesn't even make it to the bench at the end of the row of lockers before he's sliding down and sitting on the cold tile floor. David Karofsky is gay, or questioning, or whatever the hell he is. But he kissed Kurt against his will, when it was clear Kurt didn't want him to and now Karofsky has a whole other reason to hate Kurt. Because Kurt knows his secret now. 

His phone buzzes with a text message. Kurt looks down and sees it's Blaine. _Where are you? Are you skipping without me? I thought I was supposed to be the bad boy of this relationship?_ Kurt feels himself clicking the necessary buttons for his response, but he doesn't think. He's not sure if he wants to be alone or not, because the more and more it sinks in, the more he realizes how screwed he is right now. Why did he follow Karofsky into the locker room? Why did he get in his face? Sure, he never expected this to happen, but what does he do now? He can't tell anybody, he can't out somebody who obviously doesn't like, might even hates, what's happening to him. 

But when he sends his message, it doesn't tell Blaine he'll be right there. Instead, he tells him to come to the locker room. Now. 

If Kurt was in a better mind frame, he thinks he would have thought it funny how Blaine definitely sprinted to the locker rooms based off the quicker breathing as Blaine shoves open the door. He's not really aware of the tears on his cheeks either until Blaine's reaching for his face with both hands and wiping them away. But the feeling of Blaine's hands on his face just reminds him of the other, much larger hands that were on his face, forcing his breath away by the force of his kiss. 

"Come here," Kurt grabs the sides of Blaine's jacket and pulls, kissing him harder than Karofsky just did, needing to remind himself of the softness of Blaine's lips, so unlike the harsh, unrelenting lips from a kiss forced on him. Blaine lets Kurt kiss him for a few seconds, but he pulls back, obviously concerned but Kurt doesn't want him to be concerned right now because he honestly just wants to forget about what just happened. 

"Kurt, what's going on?" Blaine asks, but Kurt isn't having that. He tugs again with hands still holding onto Blaine's jacket. 

"Shut up, Blaine," he whispers, kissing Blaine harder and closing his eyes tightly, pushing forward harder until Blaine actually tumbles back and falls to the ground and Kurt follows, trying to keep their lips connected. 

"Fuck, Kurt, stop!" Blaine tears himself away, and Kurt looks down at Blaine, his hazel eyes wide and concerned and he isn't even mad. He's more concerned than anything else, and Kurt finally pushes himself away from Blaine. He sits with his back against the locker, putting his head in his hands. 

"I'm sorry," Kurt whispers. He hears Blaine sigh loudly, and he feels as he sits himself next to him and starts rubbing a hand in circles on his back. 

"What's going on? You're starting to scare me," Blaine says softly. Kurt sighs, but he can't manage to look up from the ground long enough to look at Blaine. 

"It's nothing. Sorry to freak you out. Karofsky just shoved me into a locker and it brought up a lot of old memories," Kurt whispers. Blaine doesn't say anything, his hand stops rubbing Kurt's back and instead just rests there. Kurt waits a few moments for Blaine to speak up, but when he doesn't, he finally glances up from his spot of the floor and over at Blaine. 

"That's not all, is it?" Blaine asks. Kurt doesn't know how he already understands that Kurt's holding something back. Isn't that not supposed to happen yet? They've only known each other for two weeks, only gone on one date, how does he already know that Kurt's not telling the whole truth? And why is it so easy to just sit there and want to tell him everything? 

"No," Kurt admits, now unable to look away from Blaine's concerned hazel eyes. He starts rubbing his back again, and it's soothing the anger away, leaving him with just confusion and hurt. 

"You have to promise not to tell anyone, okay?" Kurt finally whispers out after several silent moments pass. Blaine doesn't say anything, just nods, and Kurt continues. 

"After he shoved me, I followed him here and started yelling at him. I asked him why he hated me all this time. I honestly just expected him to beat me up or something," Blaine looks like he's about to say something, but Kurt doesn't let him. "He kissed me. I was yelling at him and he kissed me." 

Blaine is silent. The hand stops rubbing his back and in fact, it stops resting on his back altogether. Kurt watches as Blaine leans back against the lockers, he's silent for several moments. 

"I'm going to kill him," he whispers. Kurt grabs Blaine's hand, which was clenched into a fist. 

"Blaine, no," Kurt states, but Blaine's silent anger is quickly becoming more apparent in the harsh glare on Blaine's face and the force of which his hands are clenched in fists, the skin of the knuckles turning white against the olive backdrop of his skin. 

"I'm going to fucking kill him. He kissed you, Kurt. Against your will. Shoved you into a locker and then kissed you," Blaine snaps, and Kurt knows his anger is not directed at him and rather at Karofsky, but at the moment, Kurt doesn't care. Blaine, despite whatever fights he might have gotten into in his past, has not encountered the likes of David Karofsky, a football player that towers over Blaine and probably could lift him in the air easily. 

"Blaine, I don't need you to fight my battles for me. Besides, what use will beating him up accomplish?" Kurt asks. 

"It will teach him in no way, shape, or form is he even fucking allowed to _look_ at you anymore," Blaine growls. Kurt grabs his clenched fist before he does something stupid and decides to go fight Karofsky. 

"Blaine, just don't, okay. It doesn't matter. I knew I shouldn't have told you," he whispers the last part under his breath, but Blaine obviously hears it because his angered glare turns onto Kurt. 

"Of course you should have, Kurt," he states angrily. But as they look at each other, the harshness in Blaine's eyes softens slightly. He unclenches his fist and opens his hand as he grabs Kurt's hand. "If you really don't want me to fight him, I won't." 

"Thank you," Kurt says, and he lays his head on Blaine's shoulder as both of them continue to sit on the floor of the locker room. At that point, it really doesn't make sense to show up half an hour late to class, so they just sit in the locker room for the remainder of class. Eventually, they do get up, Kurt has cheer practice and Blaine was going to drive to the library until he needed to drop Kurt off at his house. 

The girls ask him where he was during writing comp, but Kurt just says he skipped. Sue wouldn't find out anyways, all the teachers are too scared to tell her if a Cheerio skipped their class because Sue wouldn't bother punishing them. He remembers one time when Mr. Schuester tried to get Santana in trouble for skipping his Spanish class. Sue said something along the lines that Santana probably skipped because she couldn't stand to look at his hair any longer. 

Practice was just a little less than hell today. Usually, nothing they do is even remotely good enough for Sue, but she must have been in a good mood today, because she only made three people cry and even said they didn't suck as terrible as she expected them to. 

The football players had training at the same time the cheerleaders did, so it was normal for the two groups to be let out at the same time. However, the large crowd in the parking lot was certainly not normal, and as Kurt and Quinn walk over, both of them having stayed behind to talk to Sue about their next competition, they realize what's going on. 

They shove their way through the crowd of students, almost all of who have their phones out recording the fight happening in the middle of the circle. And the fighters were none other than Karofsky and Blaine. And Blaine was obviously winning. Karofsky might have had the upper hand based on size, but Blaine wasn't joking when he said he learned how to fight. Punch after punch landed on Karofsky, and Karofsky got a couple hits in of his own, but they weren't slowing Blaine down. 

"What the hell?" Kurt yells, and it distracts Blaine enough for Karofsky to land a sickening punch on his chest. 

"Oh look, it's your little fuck buddy," Karofsky states, grinning widely as he laughs. Blaine isn't laughing as he lands another what must be hard punch to his side. 

"Please, don't act like I don't know the reason you hit me first," Blaine growls, and Karofsky narrows his eyes and Kurt's stomach drops when he realizes that Blaine almost told everyone here Karofsky kissed him. With a loud cry, Karofsky charges towards Blaine, tackling him to the ground and punching him hard. 

"What's going on here?" Before things could escalate even more, Sue and Coach Beiste both push their way through the crowd. 

"Anderson! Karofsky!" Coach Beiste shouts before she quickly darts forward, pushing Karofsky off of Blaine. Sue stands inside the clearing of the circle, and Kurt watches anxiously as she glances back and forth between the two. Her eyes land momentarily on Kurt, and he hesitantly takes a step forward before he thinks he probably shouldn't. 

"Everybody, get out of here," Sue shouts to the crowd. Quickly, because no one wants to piss Sue off more than normal, they all head to their cars. Kurt can tell they are chatting about the fight, but he doesn't pay attention. Quinn tugs at his arm, but Kurt shrugs her off and instead walks towards Blaine, who's getting up from the ground slowly. 

"What the hell were you thinking?" He demands loudly, not caring as the people in earshot turn to look at him. Blaine looks up at him, and if Kurt wasn't pissed at him for going and fighting Karofsky, he'd be sympathetic to the obvious black eye and bruises showing up on his face, as well as the way he obviously is hurting. 

"Kurt, it's not what you think," Blaine states. 

"Oh, so you weren't just fighting Karofsky even when you promised me earlier you wouldn't?" Kurt asks. Blaine looks down at the ground, and when he looks back up at Kurt, he doesn't look sorry. 

"He threw the first punch, Kurt," Blaine defends. 

"Really? That's your argument?" Kurt asks, but Blaine seems to get angry at him, which is probably justified based on what he says next. 

"He threatened to kill you, Kurt! Told me he was going to shut you up so you didn't tell anyone about what happened, and then when I said he'd have to get through me first, he punched me," Blaine states. Kurt takes a step back in surprise, looking over at where Karofsky stands frozen in place at Blaine's accusation. It's then Blaine seems to remember there are two authority figures standing with them, and when Kurt turns to look at Sue, she's glaring at Karofsky with anger. 

"He's lying!" Karofsky says. Coach Beiste and Sue share a look between each other, and Coach Beiste starts pulling Karofsky away towards the doors of the school while Sue glances at Blaine. 

"Did he really threaten to kill Porcelain, Boy Wonder?" She asks Blaine. Blaine glances at Kurt as Sue states his nickname from sophomore year, something she's never stopped calling him even after joining the Cheerios. 

"Yeah, he did," Blaine says. 

"Do you think he was serious? That's a heavy accusation," Sue states, and if Kurt didn't know any better, he'd almost say Sue was serious. He's never seen her invested in any of her students lives, any besides Becky Jackson that is. 

"I don't know. But he wasn't joking when he said he'd hurt him. He already did earlier," Blaine says, and Kurt's eyes widen. 

"Blaine," he quickly says, not wanting Sue to know what Karofsky did. No matter what, no matter who the person is, he just doesn't believe in outing another human being. 

"He shoved you into a locker, Kurt. I'm not going to keep that secret," Blaine says, and Kurt relaxes slightly when he realizes Blaine understands not wanting to out another person as well. At least they both agree on that. 

"Is this true, Porcelain? He started this up again?" Sue asks. Kurt meets her gaze, and nods. She stands up straighter, glancing at the doors where Karofsky and Coach Beiste disappeared through before looking back at Blaine and him. 

"This won't go unresolved, Porcelain. I'll make sure he doesn't lay another finger on you. I can't have any of my Cheerios injured from dumb football players tossing them into lockers. I'm the only one that can do that," she says, and then she strides off into the school. Kurt watches her go, a little confused that she's just letting Blaine go after he also got into the fight. But then he realizes that Blaine's not in any trouble, not like Karofsky, and turns back to Blaine.

"Are you mad?" Blaine asks. Kurt sighs, reaching for Blaine's bruised hand. 

"A little. Mostly because I don't need you fighting my battles for me," Kurt says. Blaine nods, and Kurt holds his hand lighter than normal because he doesn't want to hurt him. 

"Are you okay?" He asks. Blaine shrugs his shoulders. 

"I'm fine," Blaine states. Kurt reaches up a hand and gently traces his swollen cheek. "And I know you don't need me to fight your battles. I just got so pissed and scared when he threatened to hurt you," Blaine says gently. Kurt nods, and yeah, he's upset Blaine got into a fight, especially because he knew Blaine would end up getting hurt, but he understands the anger. After all, wasn't it that anger that caused him to confront Karofsky in the first place? 

"Just promise me no more fights?" Kurt asks. Blaine smiles, and despite a black eye and swollen cheek, his smile is still just as breathtaking as always. 

"I'll do my best," Blaine grins. Kurt thinks that's probably the best he's going to get, and the two of them walk towards Blaine's parked bike. 

"Are you sure you're okay to drive?" Kurt asks. Blaine nods, grabbing his helmet from it's place locked onto the bike. 

"Of course, I promise. It probably looks worse than it really is, Kurt," Blaine puts his helmet on and Kurt immediately wraps his arms around him, hoping that Blaine's being truthful in the fact that he's fine because Kurt knows he tends to hold onto Blaine tight while he drives the motorcycle. But if Blaine was hurting, he didn't tell Kurt. The ride back to Kurt's house is quick, and with a short kiss goodbye, Blaine peels off down the street while Kurt heads inside. 

Inside, Carole is home making dinner. He hears Finn in his room when he passes the closed door, quickly shuts his own as he collapses onto his bed. He just wants this day to be over with already, this morning seems like a lifetime ago. How is it that he went from the excitement of this morning to the events of this afternoon? 

Before long, Carole is calling out that dinner's ready and he has to get up and pretend like the day was fine. Finn shoots him a look when he gets to the kitchen, and the two of them are on their way to their respective bedrooms when he finally speaks up. 

"Are you seriously dating Blaine Anderson?" He asks. Kurt raises an eyebrow in shock as Finn asks that question. 

"What's it to you?" He asks. 

"It's just, the things people say about him at school," Finn trails off, and Kurt waits for him to finish his thought but he doesn't. 

"If you're about to tell me to stay away from him, don't," Kurt snaps. "We both know you don't give a crap about me since I quit glee. I believe the words you used were _coward_ and _deserter._ So, I don't need you protecting me, Hudson. I can do it perfectly fine on my own," Kurt might have closed his door a little harsher than necessary, but it got the point across. He sits at his desk eating and working on homework, texting with Blaine occasionally throughout the night. 

Blaine picks him up again in the morning on the bike, and this time, Kurt doesn't hesitate to walk into the school holding hands with his boyfriend. People take second glances at them, and Kurt doesn't know if it's because of the news of the fight or the fact that Blaine's sporting a black eye and bruised cheek. Either way, he ignore the stares as he kisses Blaine goodbye in the hallway next to his locker. 

"Did you hear about Karofsky?" Quinn asks later during lunch, plopping herself into the seat to Kurt's right. 

"No, what's going on?" Kurt asks. Now that she's said something, he hasn't seen Karofsky at all during the day. He figures that he was avoiding him or that they just kept missing each other. 

"He got expelled," she states. Kurt stares at her, shocked. To Kurt's left, Blaine leans over in order to see Quinn better. 

"Wait, serious? Just for the fight?" Blaine asks. Quinn nods, and Kurt looks over at Blaine who's staring at her in shock. 

"I didn't even get called to the office," he says. Kurt looks at Quinn, and the two of them both immediately agree. 

"Sue," they say simultaneously. Blaine looks back and forth between the two of them, and Kurt's aware that he probably doesn't understand Sue as much as he and Quinn do, but even so, he's also a little confused. He knows Sue is protective over her Cheerios, although, protective might not be the best word for it. Maybe territorial? And even though Kurt isn't officially a captain like Quinn and Santana, he's still got a high place in the squad leadership. But Blaine wasn't a Cheerio, he doesn't know why Sue would protect Blaine from the fate of expulsion. Not that he's complaining. This means that he doesn't have to worry about Karofsky anymore, something that if he's being honest, has always been on the back of his mind even after he joined the Cheerios and got the protection afforded by wearing the uniform. 

"You didn't get called to the office and he got expelled? Seriously? Why?" Kurt can't help but wonder. Blaine looks at him pointedly. 

"He did threaten to kill you, Kurt. I'm glad the school is taking that seriously," he says, and Kurt grabs his hand quickly, squeezing reassuringly at the slight wobble in Blaine's voice. 

"No offense, but Figgins wouldn't have expelled one of the football players on just your word alone, Blaine. There's probably another reason as well," Quinn speaks up. Blaine glances over at her. 

"It wasn't just my word though. He came up to me and said loudly, with many other people in ear shot, and said and I quote _he'll kill Kurt for spreading his fucking fairy dust around the school._ Of course then I told him he would have to do it over my dead body and he started the fight. So it wasn't just my word, there were plenty of others in that courtyard that heard him as well," Blaine explains. Kurt squeezes his hand again, laying his head on Blaine's shoulder after he's finished. He may not like the fact that Blaine was fighting Karofsky, especially seeing as Blaine got hurt himself, but he can't deny the fact that he's glad he won't have to worry about Karofsky anymore. 

Luckily, they don't spend much more time dwelling on the expulsion. One of the cheerleaders down the table spills her lunch on the lap of another, and Kurt watches the full blown cat-fight that immediately occurs. 

******

The next month passes quickly. Spring break comes and goes, and soon the rains of April were more constant than not. Blaine had to park his bike more, as most of the time the weather just didn't permit driving his bike around. Blaine liked to joke Kurt was more upset at that fact than he was. Kurt said it was only because now he was forced to drive the two of them around. 

Still, on the few days Blaine could pull his bike out of the garage when the chance of rain was minimal, Kurt pretended like it didn't matter. Even though both of them knew that Kurt loved riding around with Blaine on that bike. 

It was on one of those few days towards the end of April that the knowledge Kurt had a boyfriend became public knowledge to his family. Actually, no, the knowledge that Kurt had a boyfriend who rode a motorcycle became public knowledge. It wasn't like Kurt had kept Blaine's existence a secret from his father or Carole, it's just that Blaine hadn't come over to the house when they were home. His dad was still in DC, and Carole had to work nights a lot of the time, so she would normally be gone by the time Blaine dropped him off or Kurt drove himself home from their dates. So he hadn't really gotten around yet to introducing his parents to Blaine. He was also just enjoying the fact that Blaine and him were still new, even when it felt sometimes like they had been dating for years, in reality they were only dating for one month. 

The night was abnormally warm for the month when Blaine's bike roared to a stop outside Kurt's house. They had just spent several hours at the abandoned barn, enjoying the fire in the pit outside and not having to spend time bunched in several blankets. The barn was their preferred date spot, since not only was Lima small and already limited on great places to go on dates with his boyfriend, but they were not unaware of the attitudes of the small town public, so they generally didn't spend too much time close to each other when they were in public. In the barn, they could kiss whenever they wanted. And they kissed. A lot. They could hold hands and each other without anyone glaring at them. Kurt's favorite spot was that small, beaten down couch in front of the tv where he could lay his head on Blaine's shoulder and have Blaine's arm holding Kurt tight to his body. But they always had to leave, and so they got on Blaine's bike and he drove him back home. 

"I'll see you Monday morning, right?" Kurt asks when Blaine takes his helmet off. Blaine nods, and Kurt grins, leaning in and taking advantage of the empty street, kissing Blaine. That one kiss turns into two, and then three, like they've had a habit of doing lately. Kurt's not really aware that he's making out with his boyfriend until he hears a car pulling up. Kurt jumps back, recognizing the car as his father's, who wasn't supposed to be coming back from DC until next week. Blaine looks at the car in shock, and Kurt watches his dad get out and walk over to them. 

"So, you must be the famous Blaine," his dad states as he looks over Blaine, who's still sitting on the motorcycle. Blaine quickly gets up, and Kurt feels bad for him because he knew Blaine wanted to make a good first impression on his father, and being caught making out with Kurt on the back of his bike probably wasn't the best first impression in the world. Not to mention the fact that Kurt knows he's going to get an earful about the bike, he knows how his dad feels about them. He just can't imagine Carole's reaction, knowing she hates motorcycles even more than his dad does. 

"Yes, sir. Blaine Anderson, nice to meet you, sir," Blaine shakes the hand his dad holds out, and Kurt watches the exchange a little nervously. Blaine's not the only one that wants to make a good first impression on Kurt's dad, Kurt wants his dad to like Blaine too. 

"Just Burt is fine, Blaine," his dad states. He then looks down at the bike parked in behind them. 

"This your bike, Blaine?" Blaine nods in response to the question. 

"Yes, sir. Burt," he quickly corrects himself, and Kurt watches his dad nod. Finally, he looks at Blaine was that stern look Kurt is all too familiar with. 

"I trust you have a motorcycle license. And you drive safely with my son, correct? That both of you wear helmets?" Burt asks. Blaine looks at Kurt, because they both know Blaine drives well above the speed limit, and as unsafe as it was Kurt didn't wear a helmet when he was on the bike. Blaine only had one bike helmet, and Kurt just never bothered to grab a helmet of his own or ask Blaine to get him one. 

"Yeah Dad, we're safe," Kurt states, feeling a little guilty for lying but he figures he'll just make sure Blaine grabs a helmet for him from now on. His dad nods again, and Blaine looks back and forth between the two of them, obviously intimidated by Burt. 

"I thought you weren't coming back until next week," Kurt changes the subject, and luckily it works because his dad turns away from the bike and Blaine and looks over at Kurt. He smiles and pulls Kurt into a hug. 

"We managed to finish up the work that needed me in Washington, anything else I could bring back with me. Figured I'd show up and surprise you guys," his dad states. Kurt smiles as he pulls back, knowing Carole will be ecstatic when he walks in like she always is when he comes home. 

"I should probably head home. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Hummel," Blaine says. 

"Why don't you come over tomorrow evening for dinner, Blaine?" Kurt watches Blaine's face quickly morph into surprise when he hears the offer that's clear to both of them is more of a command than a question. Kurt knows that Blaine had to meet his dad and Carole eventually, but Blaine always seemed hesitant when it came to meeting Kurt's parents and Kurt never really got around to asking him why he was so scared to meet his dad and here he was being thrown into the deep end. 

"I'd love to, sir," Blaine rushes out, and Kurt watches his dad's nod. Then, he turns to Kurt. 

"I'll see you inside, bud," Kurt hugs his dad again before he heads for the front door, and Kurt quickly turns to look at Blaine, who's clearly freaking out a little.

"Don't worry," Kurt states quickly. 

"Your dad just met me for the first time while making out with you on your front porch. That's probably the worst first impression I ever could have given him," Blaine rambles. Kurt grabs his hand, and tries to give him a comforting smile. 

"It wasn't that bad. Besides, we're on the sidewalk, not the front porch," Kurt tries to joke, but Blaine isn't having it. 

"Your dad hates me," Blaine whines. 

"No he doesn't. Besides, you're pretty impossible to hate. Trust me, I've tried," Kurt says, and manages to get a smile out of Blaine. Kurt steps closer to Blaine so that he can wrap his arms around Blaine's shoulders. 

"I promise you, both my dad and Carole will fall for your charms just like I did," Kurt whispers, leaning in and kissing Blaine lightly before pulling away quickly. 

"I guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow then?" Blaine states. Kurt nods, and watches with a smile when Blaine pulls back and gets onto his bike. He waves when Blaine puts his helmet on and watches as he pulls out onto the street and quickly drives away. Once Kurt can't see the bike anymore, he walks back into his house where Carole is hugging his dad and Finn's standing to the side. 

"Kurt, there you are! Guess who got off a week early?" Carole grins over his dad's shoulder. Kurt smiles and leans against the wall of the house as he watches his dad and Carole hug. 

"I know, Blaine and I ran into him outside when he pulled up," Kurt says, leaving out the part that his dad pulled up in the middle of the two making out. 

"Speak of, I told Kurt to bring Blaine along to dinner tomorrow," his dad says. Carole looks over with a smile, grinning at the knowledge that Kurt's finally bringing Blaine around. 

"Of course! I can't wait to meet him," Carole grins, and Kurt can't help but watch Finn's smirk as he stands to the side watching. Kurt just ignore him as he goes upstairs to his room, telling everybody goodnight and that it was good to see his dad again. 

The next morning, Kurt wakes to the scent of pancakes cooking. Kurt smiles as he heads downstairs where Carole's standing in front of the stove, cooking his dad's favorite pancakes. He grabs some fruit and starts cutting it up, talking with his dad who's sitting by the counter drinking a cup of coffee. He catches up with his dad about what's going on in DC and his life out there. Kurt tries to talk to his dad as often as he can when he's in the capital, but sometimes he doesn't get to talk with him as often as he wants, what with his dad being so busy out there. 

Finn eventually makes his way down after waking up to the food cooking, and Kurt continues to ignore the obvious tension between him and Finn. He wonders when Finn is finally going to get over this stupid grudge he has against Kurt, it's obvious he's not coming back to glee club, and besides, even when he was in glee it wasn't like he was a valued member. That's part of the reason why the choice of Cheerios or glee was so easy, the Cheerios valued his voice and his ability to help lead them to Nationals. And they won both his sophomore and junior years because of him playing a key role, and they were well on their way to winning Nationals next month this year too. Kurt doesn't really care that much about this grudge, it's not like he asked to have an older brother or anything when his dad and Carole started getting serious. But he knows their parents picked up on the tension, knows they wish they would act more like siblings. But for whatever reason, and Kurt has a sneaking suspicion that Rachel Berry might be involved, Finn hasn't let go of the events of two years ago.

But because they haven't seen Burt in person for a couple months, the usual silence that generally takes place whenever Finn and Kurt eat in the same place doesn't occur. The table's filled with the four of them catching up with the events of their lives. 

Afterwards, Kurt helps his dad clean up the dishes and they talk just the two of them. Kurt loves that his dad found Carole, loves that he has someone in his life that can make him happy like his mom did, but sometimes he misses the days when it was just the two of them. Once he came out, the two of them grew a really tight bond and Kurt knows that it's still there even with Carole and Finn in the picture, but sometimes it's nice just to be around his dad and nobody else. 

But of course, that's not his life anymore, and once they finish Finn is calling out to Burt about the game and he goes to watch it with Finn. Kurt heads back upstairs to his room, putting some music on in the background as he gets some of his homework done. He texts Blaine to come over around 6:30 and to prepare for an interrogation, because he knows his dad well enough to be pretty sure that's what's going to happen the first half hour at least. It depends on how quickly Blaine charms his dad for how long the interrogation continues after that. 

Blaine pulls up a couple minutes before 6:30, parking his bike on the street in front of Kurt's Navigator. Kurt makes sure he's the one to get the door because he can just imagine Carole's reaction to seeing the motorcycle. He doesn't know yet if his dad has told her about the bike, but if he hasn't, well, Kurt's not going to volunteer that information willingly. He knows she'll eventually find out, but he wants to avoid that lecture for as long as possible.  

"Hey," Kurt grins as he closes the door. He leans in and kisses Blaine quickly, because he knows Blaine's probably just as nervous as he is. Even though Blaine technically met his dad last night, this is the notorious parental meet and greet that Kurt's always been worried about even before his boyfriend had a face and a name. He doesn't know why, but he's always been worried about having to introduce someone to his dad. Maybe it stems from his pre-coming out fears of his dad hating who he was and having a boyfriend means Kurt's _acting_ on being gay instead of just saying he's gay. Now of course, he knows everyone in the living room accepts him for who he is, but he's still nervous about them meeting Blaine.  

"Hey," Blaine says in response, smiling back at him. Kurt takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he takes Blaine's jacket for him and hangs it up on the coat rack in the hallway. 

"Ready for this?" Kurt asks. Blaine laughs, and it's nice to see at least one of them seems to be confident about the night. 

"Let's go," Blaine says, and he's the one who actually tugs Kurt towards the living room even though he has no clue where he's going in the house. Luckily, he just can follow the noise and the two of them walk in to find his dad and Carole getting up while Finn stays on the couch. 

"Dad, you remember Blaine. Blaine, this is my step-mom, Carole," Blaine holds a hand out for Carole, but she just goes straight for the hug like she normally does. 

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Hummel. Or is it still Hudson?" Blaine asks, looking back at Kurt momentarily before returning to look at Carole. 

"It's still Hudson, but call me Carole, Blaine. You probably already know Finn from McKinley, right?" Carole asks, and Finn looks up at the mention of his name. 

"Yeah, I think we have a class or two together," Blaine says. Finn doesn't say anything, he just goes back to watching the tv. Luckily, dinner is already ready, and the five of them head for the rarely used dining room, because apparently the kitchen table where they normally eat is unfitting for guests or something. Kurt smiles as Blaine holds his chair for him, something he always does, no matter how many times Kurt tries to hold Blaine's chair for him. One of the side effects of two boys dating, he guesses from his very limited experience, if both of them are raised to always push in your date's chair, who does it? In this relationship, it's Blaine. However, Kurt's usually the one holding doors open for Blaine. 

Carole brings in the food, and for a moment, the table is silent except for the clinking of dishes as everybody serves themselves. 

"I guess we have you to thank for driving Kurt around that week when his car broke down last month, right Blaine?" Carole asks, and Kurt glances over at Blaine next to him. The interrogation has begun. 

"Yeah, and thankfully I did," Blaine smiles, and Kurt can't help but blush slightly as he remembers the uncertainty behind Blaine's willingness to drive him around. Now, he knows it's because Blaine wanted to get to know Kurt, and he used his car breaking down as his opportunity. However, then, he has no clue why seemingly bad boy Blaine Anderson wanted to drive him around. 

"What's it like driving a motorcycle?" Finn pipes up, and Kurt turns to him with a glare, because Carole's eyes widen and she looks at Blaine and then at Burt and then at Kurt. He knows Carole would eventually find out about the bike, but he wanted it to be at least after dinner when they weren't all forced to sit together. 

"I like it, especially in the summer when it's warm. I like the feeling of freedom it gives me," Blaine answers smoothly, and Kurt knows Blaine's smart enough to recognize the newfound tension in the air, but he's glad Blaine is seemingly ignoring it. Underneath the table, Kurt reaches and grabs Blaine's hand. Why is he the one feeling terrified? Isn't Blaine the one who's supposed to be scared meeting the parents the first time? 

"You drive a motorcycle?" Carole asks. Blaine nods. 

"Yes, ma'am," he answers. 

"It's just Carole, dear," she quickly responds, but then she turns to Kurt, "and Kurt, you drive around with him?" She asks, and Kurt nods. Blaine squeezes his hand, which Kurt appreciates. 

"He's a safe driver, Carole," he tells her. 

"I'm sure you are, Blaine. I just don't know how I feel about you driving around on that bike, do you know the injuries I've seen from people crashing on motorcycles? I don't want to imagine either of you two being wheeled into the hospital because you crashed," Carole states. Kurt glances down at his plate in the face of her cool stare, but Blaine doesn't back down, he holds Carole's gaze. 

"I understand that, ma'am, Carole," Blaine quickly corrects himself when he sees Carole about to correct him. If Kurt wasn't so nervous, he'd find it endearing how Blaine keeps forgetting he can just call his parents by their names instead of sir and ma'am. 

"I know I'm not your mother, Blaine, but I can't imagine she likes knowing you're riding around on that motorcycle," Carole continues. Kurt feels Blaine tense when she mentions his parents. He doesn't know many details about Blaine's family, he doesn't like talking about them, at all. All he knows about Blaine's family is that he has an older brother who's relationship with Blaine is strained at best, and his parents are often traveling on business trips, leaving him alone most of the time. Part of the reason he knows Blaine loves the barn so much is because there he's choosing to be alone unlike in an empty house with the knowledge that his parents are gone all the time. 

"I'll admit, she wasn't exactly thrilled when I got the bike, but she understood that I can make my own choices. And I know I probably won't change your mind, Carole, but I will say I haven't gotten in an accident and I don't drive my bike when it's icy or wet outside. I can promise that I'm safe, especially when I'm driving Kurt around," Blaine tells her. Carole is silent for a couple moments, and Kurt smiles when she leans back and takes another bite of her food. Kurt squeezes Blaine's hand in response to his words. 

"So what do you like to do, Blaine?" Carole thankfully changes the subject, and Kurt feels himself relax when Blaine answers, and he's content just to watch his boyfriend interact with his parents, eating and laughing, throwing in stories of his own and blushing when his dad tries and succeeds in embarrassing him. But Blaine's smiling, laughing along with his dad and Kurt feels his nerves disappear the longer the night wears on and his parents obviously accept Blaine, leather jackets and motorcycle and all. 

At the end of the night, they're still talking. Finn's disappeared up into his room, but Kurt really doesn't care what he thinks of Blaine. The important people are sitting right there on the couch, and they're obviously accepting of Blaine. The two of them are sitting on the small loveseat, Blaine's body warm and comforting next to his and an arm thrown around his shoulders. This, right here, is what he always wanted when he was just coming to terms with his sexuality. Just to be able to sit in the same room as his dad with another boy obviously being his boyfriend, caring for him in the way Kurt always wanted to be cared about. He lays his head on Blaine's shoulder, easily accessible from the closeness of the two. 

It gets late though, and Carole decides it's time to send Blaine home so he's not driving around too late. And she hugs Blaine tighter and longer than she did at the beginning of the night, and his dad lays a hand on his shoulder and tells him not to be a stranger, and Kurt grins. He walks Blaine to the front door, grabs his leather jackets and helps Blaine put it on. He holds the door open for him as he walks Blaine to his bike. 

"That went good, right?" Blaine asks, and it's then that Kurt realizes Blaine was just as terrified as he was, just he was better at faking confidence. Kurt grins, watches Blaine smile as he leans in and kisses Kurt hard. With a gasp, Kurt grabs Blaine's shoulders and tilts his head, feeling Blaine lighten the kiss but he doesn't stop it. Eventually, they part and both of them have mirroring smiles. 

"I'll pick you up from your house Monday. It's supposed to pour all day," Kurt states. Blaine nods, and kisses Kurt quick once again before stepping back. Kurt watches as he puts his helmet on and revs the bike. As Blaine drives away, Kurt steps back inside. He helps Carole clean up the dishes, and grins when she says Blaine seems like a great guy, tells him she's happy she found someone like him. He agrees that he's lucky, he knows he is. He's lucky Blaine doesn't care Kurt once thought he was nothing more than the leather jacket and the motorcycle, nothing more than the cigarettes he doesn't smoke and the rumors. 

When he goes to sleep that night, he still can't stop smiling. 

*******

"Everybody better be on this bus in the next twenty seconds unless they want me to make their lives even more pathetic and miserable than they already are now!" Sue barks loudly, and Kurt exchanges a glance with Quinn sitting next to him as he watches the last of the stragglers climb onto the bus which would take them to the airport. 

The drive to the airport is uneventful, and the walk to their terminal quick because the amount of flying Sue's had the Cheerios do these past couple years makes this trip seem like nothing. Nationals was being held in Tampa this year, and the flight itself was several hours, but nowhere near the farthest flight the Cheerios had been on. When he lands, he sends his dad and Carole the obligatory _just landed_ texts, and smiled when he saw the text message from Blaine. 

_Have a safe flight. Go win your twirling competition._ He rolls his eyes at that, but knows Blaine knows how much Nationals means to him. After all, this is his last year competing for the squad. He knows if he wanted to, he could have gone to several different colleges that always offer cheerleading scholarships, anyone in the Cheerios automatically gets into any program they want due to the harshness of Sue and the notoriety of the Cheerios. But Kurt was ready to hang the uniform up, ready to finally shed the careful years of protection it afforded because while the uniform kept him safe, it also kept him from being himself. It would be terrifying, Kurt knows, especially after three years of hiding who he was. But what better way to rediscover himself than going to New York City? He just hopes he gets into the colleges he wants. It was still the early weeks of May, but Kurt knows several of the girls have already started getting their acceptance letters to various colleges. Kurt's still waiting anxiously for the ones he applied to to send him his (hopefully) acceptance packets. 

The group arrives at their hotel and check in. Kurt was sharing a room with Santana, Quinn, and Brittany. Santana and Quinn would have roomed together anyways, since they are co-captains together, but Kurt's glad he managed to get Sue to room the four of them together. Ever since glee sophomore year, after Kurt joined the Cheerios of course, the four of them slowly became friends. Their friendship got better when they all made the decision to compete with the Cheerios instead of glee club, and after almost three years on the squad together, he knows he's going to miss these girls wherever they end up going. 

The next day is day one of the competition, and it starts at six am with Sue's voice yelling against their door to wake up or feel her wrath. After almost three years listening to her threats, they still hold just as harsh of a bark, but Kurt's gotten used to them. It's just another day in the life of a Cheerio after all. 

Walking into the gym surrounded by his teammates in their fellow red and white uniforms was something to enjoy. Because the Cheerios have won Nationals for the past seven years, all the other teams here knows who they are. It's just like the movies, where they walk through the crowd in slow motion, everybody turning to look at them as they head to the check in desk. Sue is her typical self when checking them in, so they walk away with the lady who mans the desk shivering in the type of fear only Sue Sylvester can inspire. They don't compete for the first time for another hour, so Kurt chats with the squad while they wait. His phone buzzes several times before their first competition, each one with a different person texting him good luck. First it's his dad, then Carole, and finally Blaine. Of course, Blaine's wasn't really a good luck text, his was more along the lines of teasing Kurt for doing jump kicks. But Kurt knows that's Blaine's way of saying good luck, so he lumps that text in with the others. 

They eventually do compete, and Kurt takes his stage front and center for his own performance. He's singing again, but Santana and Quinn also have their own singing parts, and when they are the ones singing he's doing all kinds of flips and twists as well. When it's over, the room bursts into applauds while Sue stands their with a self satisfied smirk, and the squad prepares for that afternoon's competition, knowing without needing any type of judges confirmation they would be advancing to the next stage of the tournament. 

They do just as well in their second performance, and Sue rounds them all up in the bus immediately afterwards, bringing them back to the hotel where despite being sore and tired from the day, she makes them run through their routine for another hour correcting all the little mistakes she picked up. Luckily, he manages to snag the first shower, so he gets as much blessed hot water pouring over his sore muscles as he wants. 

Until Santana barges in and demands he get out, ignoring Kurt's protests that he's naked and dragging him out of the shower, tossing a towel to him and Kurt leaves the bathroom when she takes off her top, not wanting to be in the same room when she takes off more clothes. 

"Why are you naked?" Brittany asks when he leaves the bathroom. Quinn laughs as he stands there looking at the closed door dripping wet and in shock, still more than a little dumbfounded that Santana literally just kicked him out of the shower. 

"Santana," he states, and Brittany nods. 

"Oh, that makes sense. We get naked together all the time, but she's usually in the same room as me. Do you want us to get naked too, Kurt?" Britt asks. Kurt looks at her quickly, and she's sitting on the bed she was sharing with Santana crosslegged. Again, how Santana and Brittany have not started some kind of relationship astounds him. Kurt just continues to put it down to the fact they probably weren't ready to think about it themselves.

"No, Britt. Keep your clothes on. Please," he tells her. She nods, and Kurt quickly grabs his own clothes and makes the girls turn around so he can change. He crawls on top of the bed next to Quinn, who's looking at him with a teasing smile. He just glares at her, and she laughs before Kurt turns to grab his laptop, opening up the essay due in writing comp on their final. 

That's how he spends the next several hours, typing away on his essay while trying to ignore the three girls who seem to be constantly moving or talking. Luckily, he's never been the type of person that has to have complete silence in order to do work. He saves his place halfway through the essay when Quinn announces they need to meet the rest of the squad in the lobby for dinner, and the four of them head towards the elevator. 

Dinner is a quick affair, as it always is when you have Sue breathing down your neck as you eat. She never likes to let the Cheerios hang around in public when they are at their competitions, preferring instead to strike fear into their competitors hearts by not letting them see what they were doing and acting like normal high schoolers. So Sue quickly makes them finish, and they head back to the hotel to rest before the second day of competition. 

The next morning, Kurt wakes up to another "good luck" text from Blaine. This time, it says _what's the difference between you twirling and this?_ Followed by a gif of a four year old ballerina spinning until she falls. Kurt can't hold back the laugh as he texts back. 

_As long as nobody falls like that, we should be good._ He sends, turning around and grabbing his uniform. He heads to the bathroom to change, and when he closes the door Blaine responds. 

_Or what about this?_ This time, the gif is of another small girl jumping and screaming in joy, quickly followed by another of the same child but another little girl comes over and pushes her, causing the first one to cry. Kurt chuckles again as he pulls on his shirt. 

_Where are you getting all these gifs of random children? Should I be worried?_ Kurt sends. Pretty much immediately Blaine texts back. 

_First thing I found when I searched cheerleading gifs. Should that be saying something?_ Blaine responds. Kurt rolls his eyes as he heads out of the bathroom, which immediately becomes occupied by Brittany. 

_If I didn't know better, I'd say you're making fun of me being a cheerleader. Hurtful._ Kurt grabs a granola bar and starts snacking, knowing Sue wasn't planning on feeding them before the competition that day. 

_Do you need me to kiss it better? ;)_ Once again, Kurt finds himself rolling his eyes at his boyfriend. 

"Hey, stop flirting with your boyfriend and lets go. We need to be down in the lobby in three minutes," Santana snaps. Kurt looks up from the bed to see all three girls have finished getting ready. Kurt doesn't even respond to her, he just grabs his shoes and puts them on quickly, wordlessly walking past them after he's finished. 

_Gotta go twirl now. Text you later._ Kurt responds anyways, even knowing that if Sue found out he's on his phone she would freak out, probably destroy the phone as well. She's done that several times to other girls who were texting on the bus ride to various competitions. 

_Good luck babe. Don't fall on your ass! Unless you really DO want me to kiss it better ;)_ Kurt doesn't even respond, he just shoves his phone in his bag right before the door opens and Sue turns to the group of four with a sharp glare. They're the last ones down, and she quickly starts shoving, literally shoving, the group towards the hotel doors where the bus is outside waiting. 

The second day of competitions isn't much different than the first. The only thing that's different is they perform their routine three times instead of twice, and the judges are getting harsher with their critiques. But they make it to the semi-final round the next day anyways, while most of the squads are eliminated. But, like the first day, Sue brings them back to the hotel, and despite their exhaustion, makes them run over their routine again and again until several of the girls literally cannot hold themselves upright anymore. Only then does Sue finally tell them to shower and get back down to the bus for dinner. 

When they get back, the four of them fall to bed utterly exhausted, knowing they'll need their energy for the next day, where they were hoping to get past the semis and go win the finals. Kurt knows he hasn't really discussed it with the girls, but he knows they are in the same boat as him, in the fact that they desperately want to win what will be their fourth National title, while it would be his third. Especially seeing as they would all be graduated in a little over three weeks from that day. 

The lobby was quiet, and there was a lot of tension in the air on the drive over to the gymnasium. There was press outside, there usually always seemed to be press wherever Sue went. Kurt at one point thought she paid them to follow her to competitions and things of that nature, but he's never been able to prove it so he ended up dropping that theory. She ignores them as they take pictures and ask questions, only barking back an _of course my Cheerios are going to win, I don't accept losers,_ when one of the questions asked was what Sue thought of their chances against the team from New York, an admittedly talented squad. 

Kurt can't tell if Sue is at all nervous about the New York squad, she's still the same coach who's always criticizing them, no more than she normally does. They are the first group to do their routine that day, so they have to quickly change and get ready for their slot. The gym is filled with the other squads as well, and Kurt knows they are all watching as the squad gets into position. 

After their routine, they all follow Sue back outside in the hallway where they were going to wait for the results to see who made the finals that afternoon or not. Sue does what she normally does, ruthlessly pick apart the routine and pointing out flaws that she saw, even if she was the only one who actually _did_ see any kind of flaw. 

When they are announced to be advancing to the finals, along with the New York team, Kurt feels determined to beat the other squad. The finals wouldn't start until several hours, so the squad goes to grab a light lunch, and Kurt takes the time Sue isn't watching to pull out his phone and send a text to his dad and Blaine about advancing to the finals. They both give their usual good luck text, his dad's the more traditional _knock them dead, kid._ While Blaine's text may not have been traditional but it still made Kurt smile nonetheless, _twirl your heart out, go fucking win._ Kurt's grin stays on his face even when Santana makes fun of him for grinning down at his dick. He just rolls his eyes and puts his phone away. 

After lunch, they head back to the gymnasium, where the laughter from their break quickly goes away in the face of Sue's glare. They get themselves back in competition mode, and Kurt knows everyone probably has different motivations to being on the squad, maybe it was popularity, maybe it was protection, but all of them wanted to win. So when it's their time to perform their routine, they all know what they have to do. 

And they bring it. 

Kurt finishes his handspring and immediately slides into a split, huge smile on his face as he stares out at the judges and the music stops. A few seconds later, the room explodes in applause as he gets up from the floor, pulling Quinn and Brittany into a hug, which is quickly joined by Santana even though she claims to want no part in group hugs. Of course, Sue doesn't partake in the excitement at the knowledge they performed that routine the best they've ever done, especially because the New York team was already heading over to take their places. 

Of course, the New York squad brings it too, and the joy from their previous excitement quickly dissolves in the face of the routine from New York. They judges disappear to deliberate and it's twenty minutes later until both squads are back on the main floor, waiting in front of the absolute massive gold statue and the equally big but not as massive second place silver. 

The announcer asks everyone to be quiet, and the gym is so silent you could hear a pin drop before he opens the envelope. 

"And the National Cheerleader's Association is proud to announce the winning squad is.... William McKinley High School's Cheerios!" Red and white confetti immediately falls from the ceiling as the squad starts screaming in joy. Kurt grins as Brittany jumps into his arms, quickly hugging her back before she grabs Santana. He's wrapped in hug after hug from all the members of the squad, each one patting him on the back and all of them screaming with excitement. Kurt turns to see Sue holding the first place trophy and talking to one of the cameras, a satisfied smirk on her face as she discusses the tournament. 

A little while later, Kurt doesn't really know how long it was other than the fact there was enough time for them to scream themselves hoarse, the squad was driving to the airport. Even on the plane, the excitement of winning refuses to leave him, so he will admit, he was a little antsy when the plane finally landed. That antsy-ness was the only explanation he could possibly give to the fact that when he saw Blaine waiting next to his dad at baggage claim, he quickly jumped into his arms without a care they were in public. Blaine, for his credit, manages not to fall when Kurt practically tackled him. 

"Nice to see you too, Hummel," Kurt can feel Blaine's grin against the skin of his neck, and he rolls his eyes when he sees Blaine's smirk. 

"Hey kid. No hug for your own dad?" Kurt turns to his dad, who's smiling and holding his arms wide. Kurt doesn't say anything, he just falls into the arms of his dad, who hugs him tightly like he hasn't seen Kurt in years even though it's only been three days. 

"Nice to see you, dad," Kurt says. His dad lets him go with a smile and Kurt grabs for Blaine again, watching his dad roll his eyes as Blaine grabs his hand. He pulls him over to where the rest of the squad are crowded around the conveyer belt, waiting for their luggage to get off the plane. 

"Congrats on your twirling competition, by the way," Blaine says. Kurt smacks his shoulder lightly, which causes Blaine to laugh. 

"I'd like to see you even try a handstand, Anderson," Kurt teases, like he always does whenever he says Blaine's last name instead of his first. It's something they both do, which confuses several of their friends, because why would they call each other by their last name only when they're teasing each other? They don't really have an answer, it's just something they've done for the past two months they've been dating. 

"It can't really be that hard," Blaine states. Kurt rolls his eyes, keeping an eye on the conveyer belt for his suitcase. 

"It's harder than you'd think, Anderson," he states. Almost immediately, he knows what he just walked himself into, and quickly turns to see Blaine's smirk getting even wider. 

"Don't," Kurt quickly says, but Blaine ignores him. 

"I know something else that's harder than you think," he says. Kurt doesn't even respond, but what makes that statement from Blaine worse is the fact that Santana clearly heard it.

"Don't say a word, Santana!" Kurt calls out before Santana could say anything. But it seems that no matter what he says, he's destined to be ignored. 

"No one wants to hear your strange foreplay, Hummel. I got enough of it from you two sexting in our hotel room," she states. Kurt is very glad they were out of ear shot of his dad, who's standing by the doors talking with several other parents. 

"Believe me, Santana, you'd know if we were sexting. Kurt wouldn't have been able to help himself and he'd have stripped naked for me then," Blaine grins, and Kurt slaps his chest again, feeling his cheeks blush. Brittany looks over at their conversation then. 

"Kurt's pretty when he's naked," Brittany states. Kurt just groans and blushes deeper, wishing his suitcase would hurry up and get here. Blaine looks confused, especially when Santana and Quinn burst out laughing. 

"When did you see Kurt naked?" Blaine asks, and Brittany's smile widens. 

"When Santana pulled him out of the shower," she says. Blaine looks back and forth between Brittany and Kurt, and Kurt sighs loudly. 

"Santana kicked me out of the shower the first day with a towel," Kurt explains, and luckily his bag _finally_ gets put on the belt so he quickly exits the conversation to go grab his bag. He pulls it off the belt and sees his dad wrapping up his conversation. Blaine says goodbye to the girls while Kurt just waves, not wanting any more potentially embarrassing moments to happen. 

The three of them drive back to Kurt's house, with Kurt talking about everything they did during the three days he was in Florida. Blaine's sitting in the back while Kurt's up next to his dad, but every time Kurt looks back Blaine's watching him talk with a smile. He just smiles back and continues talking about the crazy antics Sue got up to at the tournament, like the time she freaked out at the wait staff in the restaurant the second day because they were apparently so inadequate they couldn't handle the Cheerios. 

When they get back, Blaine can't hang around and eat dinner with them, so Kurt says goodbye and kisses Blaine thoroughly, after all they hadn't seen each other in person for several days. Blaine grins and kisses him back just as thoroughly. 

"Congratulations on your twirling competition again," Blaine murmurs after they finally separate. Kurt smiles and playfully rolls his eyes, he doubts Blaine will ever stop teasing him about cheerleading. 

"Thanks," Kurt says, leaning in and kissing Blaine one last time before stepping back, watching as he gets on his bike and quickly roars away. 

A week later, Kurt finds himself back in the barn with Blaine after school that day. Kurt didn't have practice, a rarity that Sue would ever cancel Cheerios rehearsal even after winning Nationals last week. They were laying on the couch, a movie playing in the background neither of them were paying much attention to. Kurt was paying more attention to the fact Blaine was currently trailing his lips down his jawline, sucking gently on the spot near his ear. 

"Don't you dare give me a hickey, Anderson," Kurt says breathlessly, feeling Blaine chuckle against him as he gives one last parting kiss to that spot. Blaine doesn't say anything back, but he does leave that spot to start trailing kisses down his neck, and Kurt tilts his head back unconsciously, feeling Blaine's lips trailing down by his Adam's apple and then his collarbone, where his shirt had moved a bit to reveal it. Kurt hears his phone buzz, but both of them ignore it. Blaine leaves his collarbone and starts kissing his lips again, and Kurt smiles as he trails his hands up Blaine's back, up to the nape of his neck where he plays with the curls of his hair. 

His phone keeps buzzing, enough so that Blaine pulls himself back with a groan, with is echoed by Kurt as he reaches for the small table, where his phone is still buzzing. 

"I'm sorry, it's the group chat with the girls. They're just talking about prom plans this weekend,"  Kurt tells him, putting his phone on silent so the two of them could go back to what they were doing. He throws the phone back on the table and takes his place back underneath Blaine, smiling. 

"Continue, please," he says when Blaine doesn't move. Blaine has a weird look on his face, and Kurt runs a hand over Blaine's bicep as he waits for him to talk. 

"I forgot prom was this weekend," Blaine says. 

"Yeah. I figured you wouldn't really want to go, considering," Kurt trails off, but Blaine gives him a hard look. 

"Considering what?" Blaine asks, and Kurt looks at him concerned, because Blaine looks a little angry but Kurt doesn't know why. 

"Well, considering what happened to you at that Sadie Hawkins dance. And besides, you're the one who keeps telling me you have a reputation to uphold," Kurt says. Blaine sighs, and he leans back so he's sitting and not holding himself above Kurt anymore. Kurt sits up as well, looking at Blaine. 

"I'm not a coward for not wanting to go to a dance," Blaine snaps, but despite the harsh tone Kurt knows he's not pissed at Kurt. 

"I never said that, Blaine. You went through something traumatic, you ended up in the hospital because of what happened. If you don't want to go and bring up all those old memories, I completely understand," he tells him, reaching for his hand. Luckily, Blaine lets him grab it. 

"But did you want me to go?" Blaine asks, looking up at Kurt with wide eyes. Kurt smiles reassuringly, running his thumb over the back of his hand. 

"Well, I'm not going to lie and say I haven't thought about it. I think you'd look pretty great in a tux," he laughs, but Blaine doesn't even smile, "but I'm not going to force you to go." Blaine's silent for several moments, but Kurt doesn't say anything, letting Blaine work through his thoughts. He does however, continue gently stroking the back of his hand with his thumb, waiting for Blaine's thoughts to come together. 

"I just feel like I shouldn't still be affected by it," Blaine finally murmurs. At the touch of helplessness in Blaine's voice, Kurt lets go of Blaine's hand in favor of scooting closer, wrapping his arms around him. Blaine falls back against Kurt, his back to Kurt's chest. Instead of pushing him away, Blaine lets Kurt hold him, grabbing his arms tightly. 

"There is no right way to deal with a trauma, Blaine. You're not a coward and you're not wrong," Kurt whispers, holding Blaine against him tighter. He kisses the top of his head, the curls tickling his nose as he continues to hold Blaine. 

"Maybe we could still hang out after the dance? I could pick you up and take you here, or we could go to after prom if you wanted," Blaine asks. Kurt smiles as the curls continue to tickle his face, but doesn't move away, in fact, Blaine just relaxes into him farther when Kurt gives him a quick, tight squeeze. 

"I'd like that. I know Santana is having an after-prom party that we could go to if we wanted. I was going to go anyways, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I brought you along," he says. Blaine sighs in his arms, and Kurt feels Blaine start stroking his arms, smiling and kissing his head again. 

"Kurt?" Blaine softly whispers, just heard over the noise of the movie still playing in the background.

"Yeah?" 

"You're pretty amazing, you know that?" Kurt smiles wider as he feels his eyes getting heavier, the warmth and weight of Blaine against him as well as the pure contentment making him sleepy. 

"I know," Blaine chuckles in his grip. "You're pretty great yourself, Anderson," Kurt whispers. Blaine sighs in his arms, and Kurt knows it's a happy sigh based off the way he wiggles just slightly, making himself even more comfortable in Kurt's grip. 

"Can we take a nap?" Blaine asks. Kurt nods, laying down again on the couch, letting go of Blaine just long enough to get himself comfortable before Blaine is laying practically on top of him, but Kurt wraps his arms around him anyways. 

"You read my mind," he whispers. Blaine lays his head right against Kurt's shoulder, near enough to his neck that Kurt feels ever exhale against his skin. His eyes close, and he swears he falls asleep with his smile still splitting his cheeks. 

They wake up a couple hours later, and they don't have much time before Kurt has to be home for dinner. Blaine drives him home, and even though he's just spent several hours holding Blaine, he still loves being able to hold him tightly when they're on the bike. The weather is warmer now, making the air not as crisp as it was in March or April, which causes the wind not to feel as harsh when it whips against his face. Despite the fact that he told his dad he wears a helmet, Kurt hasn't ever gotten around to actually wearing the one Blaine got him, loving to feel of the wind on his face. He knows its incredibly irresponsible, but sometimes, it's nice just to be an irresponsible teenager. 

Blaine drops him off at his house, and for once Carole isn't working, so he can't prolong the goodbye as he kisses Blaine quickly. He heads back inside, sitting down for dinner with Carole and Finn. 

The weekend comes quickly, and as Kurt goes downstairs to grab some breakfast, he notices the packet laying on the table with all the other mail. He quickly grabs it, seeing the Tisch School of the Arts sticker on the front, quickly followed by his name. 

College has been one of the things his friends were talking about, especially as they got closer to graduation. Kurt knew he wanted to go to New York, so he applied to several universities out there. But one of the things he always missed was performing of a stage, and when he quit glee, that was the biggest thing he missed. Yeah, Cheerios was a performance, but it wasn't the same as being on stage and becoming a completely different character. So, on a whim, he applied to Tisch, sending in an audition tape and figuring with his nearly blank application, he wouldn't end up getting in. 

He opens the envelop, pulling out the letter first. He thinks he knows what the booklet inside means, after all, rejection letters normally don't come with a booklet, but he can't let himself get his hopes up. But even after all his hopes, he's still completely shocked when he reads the first sentence. 

_Congratulations, Mr. Kurt Hummel. We are pleased to accept you into Tisch School of the Arts class of 2017._

The letter goes on, talks about things like tuition and financial aid, scholarships available and contact information for any questions, but Kurt can't help himself from going back to that first line, the line that said he was accepted into the school he was terrified to admit he desperately wanted. 

"Kurt? Is that what I think it is?" He looks up when his dad walks into the kitchen, holding his mug of coffee that he's only allowed once in the mornings. Kurt grins, nodding as he shows his dad the booklet, where Tisch's campus takes up the glossy front page. 

"I got accepted to Tisch!" Kurt says, and his dad grins widely as he grabs Kurt and hugs him tight. It's then that Kurt allows the sound of pure excitement to escape, laughing as his dad hugs him tight. He grins wider as he holds the paper tightly in his hand, watching his dad's wide grin, who honestly looks happier than Kurt does, which is a shock considering how happy Kurt was. 

"What's going on here?" Carole walks in on the two Hummels practically jumping off the walls in their excitement. Kurt grins, about to tell her about his acceptance before his dad beats him to it. Carole's smile widens as she expresses her happiness, and the three of them sit and eat breakfast together. Finn was most likely still asleep, and Kurt can't help thinking it's nice to be able to eat as a family without Finn's weird grudge against him. 

He lets himself be a little lazy until he has to grab his suit and go over to Santana's, where Kurt would help the girls get ready for prom before Quinn's date, one of the football players that she refuses to name, would meet up with them. 

Kurt enjoys hanging out with the girls, enjoys talking with them because the realization that this will be one of their last school sanctioned events together, makes him a little upset. He knows Quinn will be nearby him, she's going to Yale after all, but it's still in another state. Santana and Brittany would be in two separate universities as well, Santana going to Indiana on a cheerleading scholarship and Brittany was, well, Kurt still doesn't know what Brittany planned on doing. Whenever the four of them talk about colleges she never really joins in on the discussion, but he does notice how she always looks at Santana a little sad. 

Kurt puts his suit on while the girls change into their dresses. He opted to go with a traditional black suit and white button up shirt, with a dark purple tie. He was finishing tying his tie when the girls step out, each wearing their own unique dresses. The girls put their shoes on just in time for the doorbell to ring, signaling Quinn's date arriving. 

"Okay, don't give me shit when you see who it is, okay?" Quinn quickly states. Kurt's curious about who this mystery-date was, especially given the fact Quinn seems actually nervous. The four of them quickly head downstairs, where Santana opens the door.  

"Puckerman?" Santana asks in shock, and Kurt's eyes widen as he sees none other than Noah Puckerman standing in the doorway, holding an actual corsage in his hand. Quinn shrugs, grabs Puck's hand and pulls him inside the house. 

"I asked you not to freak out. Besides, it's not like we're getting married. It's prom," Quinn states, and as much as Kurt wants to ask if she's serious, if she's seriously giving the guy who impregnated her sophomore year a second chance, he doesn't. Because as strange as it is, they're graduating in two weeks, and after that they all will be crossing that weird imaginary doorway into the world of adulthood, and if Quinn wants to cross that doorway with Puckerman, that's up to her. 

"Alright, lets head out before my mother tries to take pictures," Santana quickly hears them out the door, and they all climb into Santana's car, where she drives them to McKinley. The parking lot is already pretty full by the time they get there, and they have to wait in a line to check in, but eventually they find themselves in what is probably the tackiest prom theme ever, Under the Stars. The gym ceiling is full of fake white stars, catching the light and reflecting bright spots on the ground. There are drinks near the side of the gym, and as usual, Kurt sees Sue standing right behind guarding the punch bowl and glaring at anyone who dares get too close to it. 

"Lets go dance!" Brittany is grabbing Santana and Kurt's arms, trying to pull them to the dance floor, where there's already a decent sized crowd. She and Santana ditch their heels, tossing them to the side as Quinn and Puck follow them into the middle of the crowd, dancing to the beat. They all sing along to the songs, and Kurt can't stop smiling as he dances with his friends. 

"I'm going to go grab a drink!" After awhile, Kurt yells this to Santana over the sound of the music pumping. She nods that she heard, and Kurt watches as she pulls Brittany close to her and starts dancing together. He smiles as he watches them for a second, the smile on Santana's face real and true and Kurt just wants to yell at her to finally admit the fact she has feelings for Brittany. But he doesn't, because it's not his place to force someone to come to terms with something about themselves they might not be ready to face. He just tells himself for what has to be the thousandth time that he will be there for both of them if they finally admit what they mean to each other. 

He accepts a cup from Sue, but he doesn't stick around to talk with her because she's already yelling at one of the hockey players for getting too close to the punch bowl. He heads to the side of the gym, grateful to have a break from the crowd as he sips his water. 

"So, what's a guy got to do to get his boyfriend to dance with him?" He nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears the voice behind him. He turns around quickly, eyes widening in shock when he sees Blaine standing there, wearing a black tux with a bowtie around his neck. 

"Blaine? You're here?" Kurt asks, shocked. Blaine nods, smiling as Kurt pulls him into a hug. "You're not just here because I said I wanted you, right?" Kurt quickly asks. Blaine shakes his head, smiling at him.

"Given the fact we're graduating in two weeks, I figured fuck whatever reputation I have. If I want to slow dance with my boyfriend at prom, I'm going to slow dance with my boyfriend at prom," Blaine states. 

"Are you sure?" Kurt asks, watching Blaine smile and stop in front of Kurt.

"Yeah. I thought about it and decided I'm an idiot for not seeing you in a suit. You look fucking amazing," Blaine runs a hand down the lapel of Kurt's jacket, smirking as Kurt watches him.

"You look pretty great yourself," Kurt smiles, and he grabs Blaine's cheek and leans down to kiss him.

"So glad Boy Wonder decided to grace us with his presence, but I don't want to see anybody but me get their mack on," Santana's voice startles him, but not enough to stop kissing Blaine. He continues for another long second, closer to two if Kurt's being honest, before he pulls himself away from Blaine. 

"Hey, Blaine!" Brittany says, her pinkie wrapped around Santana's. Blaine smiles and waves at the girl, holding Kurt's hand. 

"Hey, Brittany. If you girls will excuse me, I want to dance with my boyfriend," Blaine tells them, and Kurt barely has time to down the rest of his water and throw the cup on the nearest table before Blaine is pulling him towards the crowd, wrapping his arms around him without a care in the world that there were people who probably hated the fact they were dancing together. But Kurt doesn't focus on anything other than the fact he's dancing with his boyfriend at his senior prom, something he always wanted but never expected to have. 

The song changes, becomes a slow song and most of the people in the crowd head out, and Kurt's about to follow them before Blaine pulls him back, putting a hand on the small of his back as he keeps Kurt close. 

"Blaine," Kurt says, looking around to see the glances thrown their way by the people around them. He can just imagine their thoughts, their disgust. But Blaine's hand squeezing his makes him look back at him, looking down at the honey-hazel eyes that always enchanted him even before they started dating, when they just belonged to the boy he thought was nothing more than a stereotype. 

"Ignore them, Kurt," Blaine whispers, and even though Kurt can feel the stares, can feel the gazes on them, he can't look away from the eyes so close to him. They were wide, so wide Kurt felt he could drown in them. From this distance, he could see how long Blaine's lashes were, framing those beautiful eyes Kurt couldn't have looked away from if he even tried. 

"Thank you, Kurt," Blaine says softly. Kurt looks at him in confusion, not knowing what it is that Blaine's thanking him for. After all, he's the one who's showing up here and making his not-so-secret romantic side of his swoon, the one who admitted he was still scared after what happened to him at Sadie Hawkins and still came to prom just for Kurt. 

"I don't think I would have come if it wasn't for you. You make me brave, not only to face what happened to me, but brave enough to come as myself, not the person I pretend to be," Blaine explains, and Kurt smiles, fights the tears that want to rise in his eyes at Blaine's words. 

"You make me brave too," Kurt whispers back, watches Blaine smile, and he leans his head down, lays it against Blaine's shoulder as he takes a step closer, closing his eyes now that he isn't looking into Blaine's, so he doesn't have to face the stares of the people who don't matter. Because right now, it's just Blaine and him that matter. 

The song ends, but Kurt doesn't want to move out of Blaine's grasp, so he doesn't. Even when the crowd surrounds them again as the beat gets faster, the two of them continue to hold each other and dance to the soft melody on they could hear. 

Eventually they group back up with Santana, Brittany, Quinn, and Puck. They all dance in a group, Kurt dances with the girls, he dances with Blaine, he has more fun than he thought he ever would have. When the night ends, both Blaine and him hold hands as they walk out into the cool night, where Santana is loudly announcing her after party. 

"You were planning on going to that, right?" Blaine asks. Kurt nods, but as they walk towards Blaine's bike, he can't help but think he would have fun at the party, but right now, he kind of just wants to be with Blaine. 

"Do you wanna go to the barn?" Kurt asks, and Blaine smiles at him. 

"If you want to go. I just want to be with you," Blaine says, and Kurt smiles. How he ever thought this boy was just the stereotypical bad boy, he doesn't know. Well, he does. Blaine's a good actor, but now that he knows the person underneath, Kurt knows he'll never see Blaine the same way he did before his car broke down two months ago. 

"Lets go to the barn," Kurt smiles, and Blaine grins, putting his helmet on while Kurt climbs on behind him, holding on tight as Blaine maneuvers around the people walking to their cars until he can finally start speeding out towards their spot. On the long road out to the small dirt path, Kurt knows he's grinning widely, and has to fight back a laugh of pure happiness as Blaine speeds down the road, lit only by his headlight and the stars above. 

They get to the barn, and Blaine parks. Kurt quickly gets off the bike, knowing his hair is completely ruined but he doesn't even attempt to restore some kind of order to it. Instead, he waits long enough for Blaine to take off his helmet and place it on the seat of the bike before pulling Blaine in for a kiss. Blaine kisses back quickly, and the two of them part long enough to open the doors and light the lamp enough to cast a soft glow. 

"Kurt," Blaine whispers, and Kurt waits for him to continue but he doesn't, so Kurt grabs Blaine's waist and pulls him closer. 

"You made my night perfect, Blaine Anderson. Thank you," Kurt whispers back, leaning down and kissing Blaine again. He pulls back quickly, watches the smile bloom across Blaine's face and in the soft glow of the lamp, his eyes turn more honey than hazel. Kurt reaches a hand up and gently strokes down one of his cheeks, watching Blaine as he looks at him. 

"I've never felt this before," Blaine says. 

"Like what?" Kurt asks. Blaine's gaze continues to hold his, and Kurt watches as Blaine holds his gaze strongly. 

"Weightless. Like I'm about to float away into the sky if you weren't holding me. Like you're the only person that matters in the entire world, and I feel so fucking lucky that you are here with me," Blaine whispers. Kurt can't help himself when he leans down and kisses Blaine, can't stop that response when Blaine's saying those words. 

"You make me weightless too," Kurt says. Blaine smiles and kisses Kurt again, softly, their lips moving against each other in the rhythm they've practiced countless times in this very barn. 

"Is it too early to tell you when I think about New York, I see you there with me?" Kurt pulls away to ask. Blaine shakes his head. 

"No, because I think about it too. Next year, two years, five years, ten years, you're there," Blaine murmurs. Kurt smiles, leans down to kiss him again. And he keeps kissing him for as long as possible. 

Later that night, they're laying down on the couch again. Both of them have long since stripped themselves of their jackets and ties, are laying across the couch in their pants, bare feet rubbing against calves as Kurt lays his head on Blaine's chest. He feels Blaine playing with the strands of his hair, already messed up from the motorcycle ride, and getting further messed up from Blaine's fingers. But Kurt doesn't care, because he knows Blaine doesn't care.

"Speaking of New York, I have news," Kurt says. He leans up, looking up at Blaine. He looks down, his hand that was playing with his hair going down to rest against his back. 

"I got accepted into Tisch," he smiles, which widens when he sees Blaine grinning. His grin morphs into his signature smirk, and Kurt wants to laugh at how easily Blaine can switch between the grin and the smirk. 

"I should have known you couldn't stay away, Hummel," Blaine says. His smirk widens at Kurt's confused look, and Blaine leans up to grab a piece of paper resting on his night stand next to the couch, and he hands it to Kurt. 

_Congratulations, Mr. Blaine Anderson._ _We are pleased to accept you into Tisch School of the Arts class of 2017._

"Wait, are you serious?" Kurt asks, looking up with a wide smile. Blaine nods, and Kurt wraps his arms around him, pulling Blaine into a hug. All of a sudden, New York with Blaine has become real. They both will be going to the same school, in the same city, facing it together. 

 

"I can't wait to be in New York with you, Kurt," Blaine says. Kurt smiles, and he leans in to kiss Blaine again. He pulls back with a large smile, laying his head back on Blaine's chest. He closes his eyes as a deep sigh of utter contentment escapes him. His thoughts are filled with New York, Blaine right there next to him as he feels himself slowly falling asleep. 

********

Graduation day comes and goes, and Kurt accepts his diploma right next to Blaine, watching his dad shed tears as he accepts the piece of paper releasing him from high school. He turns to Blaine, thinking about the summer days that will be spent together, long stretches of time spent at that barn, or at Kurt's house, or at the coffee shop, wherever they are doesn't matter, because they had so much time just to be together. 

June is blissful. Kurt helps his dad at the shop more days than not, especially when his dad was in DC. Blaine comes over most days to keep him company, and Kurt teaches him how to do basic maintenance when he learns Blaine wasn't taught. So whenever Kurt has to do a basic oil change or a tire replacement, he has Blaine come over and help. 

With Kurt's dad in DC and Carole working day shifts, the house is typically empty of parents, and most of the time, Finn's gone too. He hangs out with whoever, Kurt doesn't really ask and Finn doesn't really give the information to him. At least now that both of them have graduated, the harsh glares have decreased. Kurt hopes that now they weren't in high school anymore, Finn could get over whatever grudge he holds from Kurt quitting glee sophomore year. But Kurt takes advantage of the empty house and being a teenager, inviting Blaine over to his house. The barn has it's special place, it's where they had their first kiss, where they spent hours and will spend many more over the course of the summer, but it's nice being in an empty house with air conditioning. Besides, the way Blaine looks sprawled out on Kurt's bed is pretty amazing. They haven't had sex yet, but well, their make out sessions have been getting decidedly more heated. And the ability to lay out in his bed, with Blaine under him or on top of him, yeah, he's going to take advantage. 

But Kurt notices something the closer they get to July. The week before the fourth, Kurt was talking about how excited he was that his dad would be back and they'd have their Annual Hummel-Hudson BBQ (if you could call something happening for the second time annual) when he really notices it. 

The thing about Blaine is once you get past the leather and the motorcycle and really get to know the person Blaine actually was, he wore his heart on his sleeve. Kurt notices it the longer they're together, when he starts to really know Blaine as _Blaine_ and not the stereotypical bad boy he thought Blaine was when they first met. Blaine was such an expressive person, while at the same time seemingly unexpressive, the years of constant hiding behind a persona of someone he really wasn't masking who he was underneath. But Kurt soon realized how to find the micro expressions Blaine hides from the ones who don't know him as well as he does. 

But the closer it gets to the fourth, the more distant Blaine becomes, the more guarded and closed off he is. Kurt wants to give him his space, but he's a little worried because he's never seen Blaine like this. Granted, they've been dating for four months, but in that time he's gotten to know Blaine pretty good, so this side of him that he doesn't know makes Kurt want to help whatever's troubling Blaine. 

"Hey," Kurt stops mid explanation, reaching over and grabbing Blaine's hand. Kurt was sitting on his bed while Blaine sat at his desk, the two of them just relaxing in Kurt's room while Finn commandeers the living room downstairs with several other of the boys from glee club. 

"What's going on?" Kurt asks. Blaine looks away, but not before Kurt sees a flash of panic in his eyes. 

"Nothing. You were saying?" Blaine gestures for Kurt to continue, but looking at Blaine Kurt can see he's focusing on something else. 

"I'm serious, Blaine. You're acting different. What's going on?" Kurt asks again. At least Blaine hasn't let go of Kurt's hand, if anything, he starts squeezing it tighter. 

"My parents are back home. They want me to spend the fourth with them," he says. Kurt thinks he understands the reasoning behind Blaine's newfound guardedness. He doesn't know much about Blaine's family, knows he has a brother in California, and his parents are constantly traveling all over the world for business. He knows Blaine's alone in his house most of the time, and from the interactions between his dad and Blaine, Kurt guesses he doesn't have a great relationship with his father, because the first time his dad called Blaine _son,_ Blaine just about cried. 

"You guys are welcome to come over here, if you want," Kurt offers. Blaine looks up, actually _looks_ at Kurt for the first time that day. 

"You don't have to, Kurt," Blaine quickly states. Kurt smiles, tries to be reassuring and comforting, because Blaine's finally letting go of his guardedness and Kurt can see Blaine's a little scared. Of what, Kurt doesn't know, but he knows he'll do anything to reassure Blaine that nothing is going to scare Kurt away. 

"I'm serious. I don't know about you, but the park down the street always has a firework show, and I for one was looking forwards to watching it with you," Kurt says, and Blaine flashes a quick smile, a real and honest smile which he hasn't done at all that day. 

"That sounds nice," Blaine softly states. Kurt grins, he lets go of Blaine's hand and leans back on his bed, resting his hands behind him as he watches Blaine. 

"And I know you haven't wanted me to meet your parents, but I think it's about time we cross that bridge," Kurt states. He watches Blaine's eyes go wide, and that flash of fear runs through his eyes again. 

"Blaine, there is nothing your parents can do that will make me run away, I can promise that right now. I don't know everything, obviously, but I can promise that no matter what, I'll be here for you," he says. Blaine sighs, and Kurt wonders if Blaine will let him know exactly why he hasn't met Blaine's parents yet. He knows they travel a lot, but sometime in the last four months, they had to have come back, right? 

"You promise?" Blaine asks, and he sounds surprisingly vulnerable. Kurt nods, and before Blaine even needs to ask, because he's back to wearing his heart on his sleeve, Kurt scoots up and lays against his pillows. Blaine smiles, and gets up from the desk and lays down next to Kurt. He smiles as Blaine lays down next to him, turning onto his side with Blaine's back pressed against his chest. He lays his chin on top of Blaine's head, holding the boy in his arms tightly. 

"I'm never saying goodbye to you, Anderson. You're stuck with me," Kurt whispers. 

"There's no other person I'd rather be stuck with," Blaine says. Kurt smiles and kisses the top of Blaine's head, his nose twitching as the curls tickle his face like they always do. 

The two of them lay on Kurt's bed for a while, Kurt doesn't fall asleep, and he's fairly positive Blaine isn't asleep either, but he doesn't move from his spot holding him just in case Blaine is asleep. Eventually, they hear Blaine's phone ringing, and that's what finally makes them move. Blaine explains that his parents were texting, telling him to come home, so Kurt reminds him to invite his parents to the BBQ next week and kisses him goodbye. He watches Blaine drive away on his bike, and only goes back inside when Blaine turns the corner and disappears from view. 

A couple hours later, Blaine texts back that he will be bringing his parents over on the fourth, and Kurt smiles. Yeah, he may not know exactly _why_ Blaine has been reluctant to introduce Kurt to his parents, but at least this way, there will be lots of other people to pawn Blaine's parents off on. Kurt's invited the cheer squad, and he knows Finn's invited the glee club, Carole has some coworkers coming over, and he knows his dad is inviting the guys from the garage. It was one of the things Kurt was looking forwards to hanging out with Blaine, considering how he enjoyed last year's BBQ and having a boyfriend just means he'd get to enjoy it even more, right? 

The morning of the fourth, he helps Carole out in the kitchen preparing the appetizers and sides, sending Finn and his dad outside to set up tables. They were lucky enough to have the large backyard, so they had plenty of space to set up tables and a couple games, like corn hole and a ring toss. The front yard had a basketball hoop, which Kurt knows will get used, and there will be plenty of kids so hopefully nobody will get bored. 

People start arriving early in the afternoon, and Carole plays the dutiful host while Kurt goes off with several of the girls on the squad, talking about Nationals and what they've been doing up until now. He's made decent friends with the other girls, and some of the guys, on the squad, but he just naturally gravitated towards Quinn, Santana, and Brittany. So when Quinn shows up hand in hand with Puck, he leaves to go grab her. Finn and Puck do their handshake, and Kurt smiles as he watches them. Sometimes, he wonders what it would have been like if he had stayed in glee, if he and Finn would have a much better relationship, if he would have made friends with any other the other glee clubbers. He had some decent friendships with Mercedes and Rachel, and Mercedes even joined the Cheerios along with him, but once she quit he started talking more and more with Quinn, and through her, Santana and Brittany. And once he quit glee, they tried a couple times to hang out, but eventually, they both just stopped trying to contact one another. Maybe now that they're done with high school, they could try and reconnect? 

Puck goes off with Finn while Quinn and Kurt reconvene with the girls Kurt just left. They start their conversation over completely again, and it's another hour until Blaine and his parents arrive. 

Kurt gets the text from Blaine that they were here, and he quickly goes to greet them. The sign on the door should inform the trio to just come in, but Kurt texts back to come on in and head for the backyard anyways. So he meets them just as they were walking outside. He grins as he sees Blaine, who has completely discarded his leather jacket because of the heat. Instead, he wears a black tee shirt tucked into dark blue jeans. His parents were right behind him, his dad was a tall, skinny man with the same dark olive skin tone as Blaine, his salt and pepper hair brushed back and even from a distance, his blue eyes were nearly as piercing as Blaine's. His mom was just slightly shorter than Blaine, with long brown hair carefully curled, the same exact skin tone as Blaine and his dad, along with Blaine's honey hazel eyes. 

"Kurt!" Blaine smiles as he sees Kurt walk out of the crowd towards him, and like one, his parents both turn to him. Kurt waves as he stops next to Blaine, who immediately reaches out and grabs Kurt's hand. 

"Mom, Dad, this is Kurt, my boyfriend," Blaine introduces him, and Kurt reaches his other hand towards Blaine's dad first, who quickly takes his hand and shakes it. Then, he shakes hands with his mother. 

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson," Kurt says. 

"Blaine! Nice to see you here!" Carole quickly joins them, and she first pulls Blaine into a hug, which causes him to let go of Kurt's hand, but he quickly grabs it again once he lets go of Carole. 

"Are these your parents?" Carole asks, looking over at the Andersons. Mrs. Anderson smiles widely, and she reaches a hand out to Carole. 

"I'm Carole, I'm Kurt's step-mom," Carole introduces herself first to Mrs. Anderson, and then to Mr. Anderson. 

"Robert, and this is my wife, Pam," Blaine's dad states. Carole smiles widely at Blaine's parents, who were looking around the backyard with interest. 

"Burt, Kurt's dad, is over talking with the guys from his shop," Carole gestures towards the crowd of mechanics by the grill, where Kurt sees his dad talking loudly in the middle. Carole gets his attention by waving, and one of the guys notices and gets his attention. Kurt watches as his dad quickly finishes his story, probably something that happened in DC, before walking over the the small group. 

"Sorry about that!" He says, looking over at the Andersons, "you guys must be Blaine's folks. Burt Hummel, nice to meet you," he shakes hands with Blaine's dad first, then Blaine's mom. 

"Burt Hummel, Congressman Burt Hummel?" Mr. Anderson asks. Kurt's dad nods, putting his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. 

"Yes, sir," he says. Kurt thinks he notices a subtle shift in the Anderson's attitudes towards his dad then, they almost seem to straighten their already straight posture, look at his dad with more respect. Kurt glances at Blaine, who also notices this by the slightly fallen look he gives Kurt. Kurt pulls Blaine just a little closer by the hand holding his, feeling the answering squeeze in response. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Congressman," Mr. Anderson says. Kurt's dad quickly waves off the formal name. 

"Just call me Burt, please. I get enough of that _Congressman this_ and _Congressman that_ in DC," he says, still smiling. 

"Hey, Burt! The guys want to know when dinner's going to start cooking!" Finn calls out from across the yard. 

"If you and some of the boys want to go grab the burgers and dogs from the basement, I'll fire up the grill," he calls back. Kurt watches as Finn, Puck, and Sam all head back inside, and his dad turns back to the Andersons. 

"I can get you guys something to drink, and then the adults are mainly hanging out over by the patio," Carole points towards the covered patio, where the adults mainly are grouped while the kids run around the lawn. Most of them are teenagers, but there are some little kids running around the yard. The Andersons go with Carole, talking with Carole about something that Kurt doesn't really hear. 

"I'm so sorry, Kurt," Blaine quickly says next to him. Kurt turns from watching Blaine's parents to his boyfriend. His eyes are wide, and he looks genuinely sorry, for what, Kurt doesn't really know. It's not like the Andersons were rude or anything, although, now that he thinks about it, he does remember a slight reaction to Blaine calling Kurt his boyfriend. 

"It's alright," Kurt tells him, but Blaine doesn't really relax. 

"I just, they were more concerned with the fact your dad's a Congressman instead of the fact that you're my boyfriend, and I don't even want to know what they think of this. I know they think parties should be indoors with fancy caterers, and they only seemed interested in coming when I mentioned your dad's name, and I just. I'm sorry," Blaine finishes his ramble, and Kurt reaches for his other hand, holding both of them as he looks down at Blaine. 

"Blaine, I promise, I don't care what your parents think about me or my family. Okay, yes, I want them to like me. Because this," Kurt lets go of Blaine's hand to gesture between the two of them, "isn't something that's ending this summer. You're who I want for as long as you'll have me," Kurt says. Blaine smiles, and Kurt leans down and kisses him quickly, pulling away before Santana notices and makes a scene. Because he knows her well enough by now to know she would say something inappropriate loudly. 

"Come on," Kurt pulls Blaine towards the girls, where they all greet Blaine and go back to talking. 

As the night goes on, Kurt realizes exactly why Blaine was so nervous about introducing Kurt to his parents. While the fact that his dad held a position in Congress _might_ have helped increase his standing in their eyes, the fact that he was a boy clearly decreased his value in their eyes exponentially. They weren't obviously homophobic or anything, Kurt doesn't think they hate Blaine or him for being together, but Kurt has a feeling they are they type of people who think being gay is a phase or something they choose, based on the fact that Blaine's mom refuses to say the word boyfriend. Anytime she references Kurt, she always says something along the lines of, "oh, Blaine's _friend,"_ or "you're such a good _friend_ to Blaine." The first time she said that, Blaine's face went back to that guarded, locked down demeanor that Kurt hates, and even though everything inside of him just wanted to correct her, to tell her that he's Blaine's boyfriend and she could shove that word _friend_ right up her-- okay, he wouldn't have actually said that. But he thought it. 

Instead, he just grabbed Blaine's hand tighter, laced their fingers together and squeezed every time they said something that diminished their relationship to each other. Because even though they were friends, of course they're friends, Blaine's his best friend, but they were so much more than just that. And Blaine doesn't say anything about the fact his dad refuses to look at him, but Kurt notices. Anytime Blaine's around his dad, he doesn't even look at him. When he talks to Blaine, he makes as minimal eye contact as possible, and Kurt wants to scream at him. Why wouldn't anyone want to look at Blaine? Why wouldn't anyone want to see the absolute gorgeous, breathtaking man he should be proud of raising? But again, Kurt doesn't say anything, he just holds Blaine's hand tighter in his and looks at him that much more, trying to make up for the fact his own father doesn't want to see him. 

When it gets dark, they don't even stick around to go watch the fireworks with the group. They tell Kurt's parents that they have an early flight the next morning, they were on their way to Hong Kong for business. Kurt said he'd drop Blaine off at home, of course he didn't mind it at all. They nodded, and his mother made another comment that made Kurt want to scream but he just smiled and watched them walk away. And if Kurt notices how Carole gives Blaine an extra long hug, or how his dad lays a hand on Blaine's shoulder that Kurt knows from experience is meant to be a comforting gesture, well, Blaine doesn't need to know. He just needs to know that no matter what, Kurt's family will be there for him in every way Blaine's won't. 

Some of the adults leave, some of the kids leave as well, but most of them walk to the park down the street, carrying their own blankets they brought, or as many extras that Carole managed to find. Blaine and Kurt had one for the two of them, but the night was warm enough that no one needed to huddle underneath them. They laid them on the grass and sat, watching the little kids of the neighborhood run around near their parents. The sky was dark now, it wouldn't be long until the fireworks started. 

"Thank you for inviting my parents, Kurt. Even though they weren't really accepting, today has been pretty amazing," Blaine says. Kurt smiles, leaning back on his hands and looking down, where Blaine's laying on his side looking up at him. 

"It was purely for selfish reasons. You said they were going to spend the fourth with you, and I wanted you to come. So by inviting them, I was really just making sure you came," Kurt says, watching Blaine's smile widen. 

"Selfish reasons, huh?" Blaine asks. Kurt nods, making his face look serious. 

"Oh yeah. You should get used to that. Most of what I do is me being selfish," Kurt states. He manages his straight face for a couple of seconds before chuckling along with Blaine. 

"I'm serious, Kurt. Thank you. It was nice not having to worry about what to do or what to wear, or anything. I could finally just be me," Blaine looks over at the teenagers surrounding them, and Kurt understands what he's saying. They weren't in high school anymore, and this was the first time he felt like he could completely drop any kind of protection. He didn't have to be a Cheerio anymore, didn't have to wear a uniform to protect himself from jocks that weren't there. He hung out with Cheerios and glee clubbers alike, chatting with Mercedes again and yeah, their relationship was clearly not the same as it was sophomore year, but he didn't have to avoid her in the hallways to protect himself. 

Blaine didn't have to wear his leather jacket to protect himself anymore. He didn't have to keep up a persona that wasn't him, there was nothing there he needed to protect himself against. The Blaine that was at the BBQ today was just Blaine, not the person he tried being in the halls of McKinley. 

Kurt smiles down at Blaine, who looks up at him with no trace of guardedness. His heart is back on his sleeve, and all Kurt can see is how sincere Blaine is, how happy he was at that moment. Happiness that Kurt's sure is reflected right back at Blaine. 

The sound of the first firework exploding startles him, he was looking at Blaine so intensely. Blaine doesn't laugh when he jumps, just smiles wider as he sits up, leaning on his hands behind him like Kurt is. They both watch the fireworks explode above them, watch the sky turn red and blue and white.

"Kurt?" Blaine asks over the exploding fireworks in the sky after a while of silence. Kurt turns to him, watching as the lights from above cast a glow over Blaine's face. 

"Yeah?" Blaine looks at him, eyes wide and reflecting the lights in the sky. 

"How long are you supposed to wait to tell someone you love them?" He asks. Kurt's breath catches in his throat the same time a firework explodes, and he manages to remember to breathe while the lights trail down. 

"I don't think there's a rule or a set time," he whispers in the silence between explosions. Blaine smiles, reaches for his hand and laces their fingers together. 

"I don't care if it's too soon. I love you," Blaine says. The fireworks explode above, raining light down but Kurt doesn't see them, too busy watching the flares reflected in Blaine's eyes, the lights which cast dancing shadows on Blaine's face. 

"I love you too," Kurt says, and he leans in the same time as Blaine and kisses him while the sky above explodes with light. 

*********

Summer has a strange way of passing quickly when looking back on it. Kurt wonders how it's been three months already as he packs another box into the trunk of his car. In the driveway, the U-Haul Blaine's parents rented instead of flying back from wherever they were rests, which would be carefully driven by Kurt's dad. Blaine's bike was packed inside it, along with the numerous boxes of Blaine's belongings, because Blaine couldn't part with the motorcycle even in the busy city of New York. And he teased Kurt that Kurt wouldn't want to part with the bike anyways, but Kurt's answer was serious when he said he didn't. Kurt still doesn't know why he likes the bike so much, he has a million reasons why he likes it but he doesn't know what causes his heart to flutter, what makes his stomach tighten in anticipation even after five months as he climbs on, wrapping his arms tightly around Blaine before he shoots off down the street. 

Finally, both Kurt's car and the U-Haul were packed full. Kurt had just closed the door of his trunk when it hit him. He was really doing this. He was really moving to New York, the place he always wanted to escape to. And he wouldn't be going alone. Blaine was going with him, he would be there when Kurt felt like he was drowning, when he felt like he was soaring, and every moment in between. They were moving into the same dorm building, not the same dorm room, they weren't ready to be living in the same space together, but they would be together. Just two people amongst the millions in New York but whatever challenges came their way, Kurt thinks he can handle them as long as he has Blaine by his side. 

"You ready, Hummel?" Blaine says loudly from the U-Haul. His dad was already in the drivers seat, and he grinned at his boyfriend practically hanging out the open window.

"You know it, Anderson," Kurt calls back, seeing Blaine shoot him a grin before Kurt climbs into his car, turning the engine on and following the U-Haul out the driveway, waving goodbye to Carole as he passes her and Finn on the street. He grins as he puts his sunglasses on and cranks up the stereo, the wind rushing through his packed full car as he feels the ghost of that feeling riding the bike gave him. The one that made him feel weightless and ready for whatever lied ahead on the open road. 


End file.
